Pakistan on Thursday abolished all COVID-19 travel restrictions, removing the need to present a vaccine certificate or a negative PCR test prior to arriving in the country.
In a notification, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the new guidelines would be applicable with immediate effect and had been implemented in light of information provided by the National Command and Operations Center. It said that all travelers to Pakistan would no longer be required to provide COVID-19 vaccine certificates at their time of arrival in Pakistan.
Additionally, it said, inbound passengers would no longer be required to present a negative PCR report before boarding flights to Pakistan or upon their arrival to the country. The revised guidelines have also removed a policy to screen 2 percent of travelers from various countries, including the U.K. and Gulf nations, for COVID-19.
In 2020, when COVID-19 started to spread globally, Pakistan imposed strict travel restrictions in a bid to curb its spread. Among the initial measures adopted was a ban on all international flights for two weeks, as well as a suspension of flight operations between Pakistan and China and screening of passengers at international airports. As the pandemic progressed, the restrictions were eased and re-imposed in line with global spread patterns, with the most recent restrictions having been imposed last year amidst a minor surge in the virus’ spread in the U.K. and Gulf countries.