Passenger aircraft from coronavirus-hit China arrives in Islamabad

KARACHI: A passenger aircraft from virus-hit China arrived at the Islamabad International Airport on Monday as flight operations between the two countries resumed.

Flights between the two countries were earlier suspended after the World Health Organisation declared the Wuhan coronavirus as a global health emergency. Pakistan on Friday had halted flights to and from China with immediate effect till February 2.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza along with Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Lijian Zhao received the 69 passengers.

The passengers arrived via Chinese Southern Airlines CZ6007 and included 57 Pakistanis and 12 Chinese.

Mirza said he and the Chinese diplomat “supervised the implementation of the airport SOPs” and interviewed the passengers.

The passengers arrived via Chinese Southern Airlines CZ6007 and included 57 Pakistanis and 12 Chinese.

Mirza said he and the Chinese diplomat “supervised the implementation of the airport SOPs” and interviewed the passengers.

After a three-day suspension, Pakistan resumed flight operations with the northern neighbour today. Confirming the move, Joint Secretary Aviation Division Abdul Sattar Khokhar said on Sunday that the SCA flights carrying 150 passengers will arrive early Monday at the IIA.

On Sunday, Mirza said Pakistan was now equipped to diagnose the mysterious contagion after the arrival of at least 1,000 testing kits from China. He added that as many as 199 health information booths have been set up at various airports to provide answers to queries about the mysterious illness.

“Health information booths have been set up at airports to provide answers to queries about coronavirus and disseminate important standardised information materials.”

According to Dr Mirza, tests would start from Monday (today) at the NIH and within 24 hours the reports would be available. He announced that more testing kits would arrive from Japan within two days.