Domestic flights shut doors to unvaccinated

Government pushes through with curbs to boost inoculation

The government banned unvaccinated adults from domestic flights yesterday as it tries to push vaccinations and avoid further lockdowns to contain the coronavirus.

Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan announced the ban on Twitter, saying “only fully vaccinated passengers of age 18 years and above will be allowed to undertake domestic air travel within Pakistan.”

The government said last week unvaccinated people will not be allowed to work from offices and will not be eligible to enter shopping malls as of Friday. However, it was unclear how they would be stopped from entering such venues.

Children exempted

The bans don’t apply to children, who are not yet eligible for the vaccination drive.

Nearly 30 million people are fully vaccinated out of a population of 220 million. There is no shortage of vaccine, but many people have been hesitating, and the new measures are aimed at pushing them to get the shots.

The country has reported 1.2 million Covid-19 cases and 27,785 deaths since the pandemic began last year.

Besides, restaurants, shopping malls and marriage halls would also be out of bounds for unvaccinated people, the National Command & Operation Centre warned.

More curbs in the offing

Earlier, Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar, who is also chairman of the NCOC, had made it clear that those who had not been fully vaccinated against coronavirus would not be allowed to use public transport from Oct 15.

Likewise, schoolteachers and staff will not be allowed to work after Oct. 15 if they don’t receive vaccine jabs, the minister had announced. Meanwhile, the NCOC has decided to relax restrictions in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Peshawar, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad after they achieved the target of vaccinating 40 per cent of their population.