Risk of New Variant Omicron, Pakistan imposes travel ban

The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) has imposed a complete travel ban from red zone African countries and Hong Kong on Saturday evening after the emergence of a new Covid variant, Omicron.

NCOC tweeted the notification in which six South African countries and Hong Kong are included in category C due to Omicron.

Due to threat of new Variant, following countries have also been included in Cat C and complete ban has been imposed on direct / indirect inbound travel from these countries with immediate effect: South Africa, Hong Kong,Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana pic.twitter.com/DxzqzV4sse

— NFRCC (@NFRCCofficial) November 27, 2021

A complete ban has been imposed on every direct and indirect flight with immediate effect.

Earlier, the United Kingdom (UK) already imposed the travel ban from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, and Eswatini unless travellers are the UK or Irish nationals.

Head of NCOC, Asad Umar took to Twitter to urge the people of Pakistan how important it is to get vaccinated.

Based on the emergence of the new covid variant, notification has been issued restrict travel from 6 south african countries and Hong Kong. The emergence of new variant makes it even more urgent to vaccinate all eligible citizens 12 years and older.

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) November 27, 2021