Pakistan addresses Britain’s concerns on COVID-19 data in bid to exit no-travel list — minister

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has addressed several concerns of the United Kingdom on its COVID-19 data, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Tuesday, as Islamabad continues to mount a diplomatic offensive to exit Britain’s “red list” for travel. 
The UK placed Pakistan and India on the list in April due to a surge in COVID-19 delta variant cases, though India was later upgraded to the “amber list” and its nationals were now required to provide proof of vaccination and negative virus test results after their arrival in the UK. 
Pakistanis traveling to the UK are required to undergo a costly 10-day hotel quarantine because of Pakistan’s placement on the “red list”. Since last month, Islamabad has been engaged in a diplomatic offensive to get the country off the list. 
Pakistan’s high commission in London expressed its “disappointment” over Britain’s decision to retain Pakistan on the list in the August 26 travel, while Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi took up the matter with British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab during his visit to Islamabad last week. 
“On the red list, yesterday, Dr. Faisal (Prime Minister Imran Khan’s aide on health) had a detailed discussion with the UK’s chief medical scientist and we have removed their issues relating to data to much extent,” Hussain said at a press conference in Islamabad on Monday. “We hope that the British government will review its policy now.” 
He said the matter relating to the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on readmission between the UK and Pakistan had been postponed. 
“A chartered plane wanted to fly to Pakistan from the UK and an exemption was being sought to allow entry to the said aircraft,” the minister said. 
“But this has been delayed for the time being,” he said, mentioning Pakistan’s “issues” and “some of our demands” at present. 
Last week, Bahrain removed Pakistan from its no-travel list. On May 24, the country had suspended arrivals from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and others as part of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 cases. 
Other countries removed from the list include India, Panama and the Dominican Republic.