Pakistan, UAE mull tightened measures as repatriates test virus positive

DUBAI: Pakistani authorities have asked the United Arab Emirates to tighten its coronavirus procedures for outbound travelers, as Pakistani nationals returning from the Gulf state have tested positive for COVID-19.
“The UAE foreign ministry has assured us that all SOPs (standard operating procedures) are being followed, but we have requested them to tighten them further,” Pakistan’s ambassador to the UAE, Ghulam Dastgir, told Arab News on Wednesday, adding that there was full cooperation with the Emirati side over the matter.
According to a report by Dawn newspaper, tests of 105 out of 209 passengers who returned to Pakistan on a special flight from Abu Dhabi on April 28 were COVID-19 positive.
While he did not confirm the number, the ambassador said, “Already 6,000 people have been sent back home on special flights and only a few people have tested positive … this could have happened due to multiple factors.”
UAE foreign ministry officials were not immediately available for comment. 
In an earlier statement for Reuters, Assistant Undersecretary for Consular Affairs Khalid Al-Mazrouei said, “Everyone on UAE repatriation flights has been tested before departure, and those found to be infected were not allowed to travel.”
Special repatriation flights were launched last month after thousands of Pakistanis in the UAE asked their government to help go back in the wake of business shutdowns and mass layoffs, and amid warnings from the UAE that it could review labor ties with countries that refuse to take their citizens.
According to Pakistan’s consulate in Dubai, 60,000 nationals stranded in the UAE have so far registered to return home.
Some 1.5 million Pakistanis live in the UAE. Many of them are low-wage workers who have lost their jobs and are now stranded due to the coronavirus crisis.
“We are barely surviving and some of us do not even have money to buy food and are sharing rooms to save rent,” said Asif Malik, a construction foreman who is now out of work.
He also wants to go back to Pakistan and is waiting for news on when it will be possible.
“I registered myself one month ago but am yet to hear back from the consulate for the next available flight to Islamabad,” he said.
Last month, Dubai imposed a total lockdown in two labor-class districts — Al Ras and Al Naif — where thousands of Pakistanis live in crowded housing. After two weeks of intense testing, the lockdown was lifted.