ISLAMABAD: The United Kingdom this week put Pakistan on a new “rest of the world” list for travel, doing away with a previous traffic-light system where countries and territories around the world were sorted into colors depending on COVID-19 risk.
The formal traffic-light system was scrapped from October 4. Instead, there is now a simple red list and a “rest of world” list, which encapsulates the previous green and amber lists.
“Pakistan is off the red list, which still exists & on a new ‘rest of the world’ list,” the British High Commission in Islamabad said in a Twitter post.
Under the new changes, fully jabbed holidaymakers returning to England from a country on the “rest of world” list no longer need to take a pre-departure test before boarding.
The requirement to show a day 2 PCR test, which have been retailing at anywhere between £25 and £400, is set to be dropped for fully vaccinated arrivals later this month, to be replaced with a lateral flow test. The rules have tightened for unvaccinated arrivals: they must take a pre-departure test, PCR tests on day 2 and 8 and self-isolate for 10 days.
The rules for Brits returning have also changed, with fully vaccinated Brits no longer required to take PCR tests once they return. Non-vaccinated Brits will still need to isolate when they return from travel, even if that country is not on the red list.
“Unless you have been fully vaccinated in one of the countries [list], you must take a PCR test within 72 hours pre-departure, self-isolate for 10 days on arrival, or test to release on day 5, and book day 2/8 PCR tests and complete a passenger locator form,” the UK’s Islamabad mission said.
It said British authorities were working to recognize Pakistan-issued vaccination certificates:
“Once that is done, if you are fully vaccinated in Pakistan with one of the four UK-approved vaccines (AstraZeneca/Pfizer/Moderna/Janssen), you won’t need to self-isolate or take a pre-departure test.”
