ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s health chief has asked his British counterpart to review the data that has kept Pakistani travelers on the United Kingdom’s “red list” of countries to curb the risk of virus spread. 

Travelers on the UK’s red list are required to undergo a costly 10-day hotel quarantine on arrival and also need to take a COVID-19 test before they enter the UK.

Pakistan and India were placed on the red list in April due to the rising number of the COVID-19 delta variant cases in the region. An update issued by the British government on Aug. 8 moved India, together with Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates from to the so called “amber list” that only mandates virus tests before and after arrival for those jabbed in those territories.

Britain justified keeping Pakistan on the red list over “deteriorating epidemiological situation.”

In a letter to British Health Secretary Sajid Javid, shared on Wednesday by Pakistan’s Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, Dr. Faisal Sultan highlighted discrepancies in the UK decision and proposed a new approach. 

Reply from Dr Faisal Sultan to UK Health Secretary in response to UK govt's "explanation" (C thread) on why Pak is on Red while India has moved to amber! The table exposes claims of UK govt that UK decision based on science & data! Clearly it has been a purely political decision! pic.twitter.com/5rKE8vFaAh

— Shireen Mazari (@ShireenMazari1) August 10, 2021

“Numbers alone, without context may be deceptive,” Dr. Sultan wrote to Javid in the letter dated Aug. 10, as he shared pandemic data showing that Pakistan had the lowest daily cases, daily deaths, test positivity and total mortality in the whole region, as well as the highest vaccination rate. 
To address the situation, he suggested “interventions focused directly on traveler, rather than on other metrics.”

“I would like to therefore propose a three pronged approach which may include valid proof of having received a WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccine, a PCR test (72 hours prior to departure) and a rapid antigen test at the airport, pre-departure,” Dr. Sultan wrote and suggested discussing the issue with UK experts. 

He added that Pakistan’s coronavirus response has already been recognized as “good” by the UN an WHO.

“Pakistan’s COVID effort has been recognized by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) President-elect Volkan Bozkir who suggested it was a ‘good example’ for the world to follow and by WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who thought that ‘Pakistan was among countries from whom the international community should learn how to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.’“

Pakistani media reported on Wednesday that the country’s high commissioner to the UK, Moazzam Ahmad Khan, said he had already spoken to the British prime minister who had assured him his government was already “looking into” the red list decision.