Pakistan mulls over banning inbound flights from May 5 to curb COVID-19

ISLAMABAD, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) of Pakistan on Thursday recommended the country's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to ban inbound flights from May 5 to May 20 for curbing the fast-spreading third wave of COVID-19, an NCOC statement said.

The NCOC approved holidays for the forthcoming Eid festival from May 8-16, and banned all tourism activities during the holidays, besides urging people to stay home during the festival.

The forum also banned inter-provincial, intercity, and intra-city public transport, whereas private vehicles with 50 percent capacity have been allowed to travel.

The forum allowed the import of 6,000 metric tonnes of oxygen and 5,000 oxygen cylinders to meet the needs of the healthcare system in the country.

The NCOC also allowed the import of 20 cryogenic tanks and decided to shut down the scrap industry to divert its oxygen supply to the healthcare sector.

Earlier, NCOC Chairman Asad Umar said that COVID-19 designated hospitals are using over 90 percent of the oxygen being produced in the country.

Pakistan is currently grappling with a serious third wave of COVID-19 and the authorities are taking various measures to bring the situation under control.

All education activities, public gatherings, sports and other recreational activities are completely banned in the country whereas shopping malls are partially closed during the week.

According to the country's Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, the country has currently a positivity ratio of 10 percent and a lockdown in the cities acting as hotspot of the virus including the federal may be imposed if the national positivity ratio hits 15 percent.

The country reported 5,480 new cases and 150 fatalities because of the disease in the last 24 hours, the NCOC said, adding that a total of 815,711 people have been tested positive of the disease in the country out of which 17,680 died and 708,193 recovered.