In an attempt to facilitate stranded Pakistanis to return home, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday allowed citizens, holding valid NICOP/POCs, from category C countries to travel back to Pakistan without exemption till December 31.

The NCOC, however, declared that a vaccination certificate, PCR test pre-boarding (maximum 48 hours old) and mandatory quarantine (if travelling from Omicron-hit countries) will remain applicable.

It further stated that as vaccination of 15 to 18 years of age has not started in few countries therefore mandatory full vaccination for inbound passengers between 15 to 18 years of age has been extended till January 31, 2022, instead of December 1, 2021.

The relaxation comes a day after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Pakistan confirmed that a recently suspected sample from Karachi was indeed the ‘Omicron variant’ of SARS-CoV2. “The NIH has been able to confirm (via whole genome sequencing) that a recently suspected sample from Karachi is indeed the ‘Omicron variant’ of SARS-CoV2,” said NIH Pakistan in a tweet.

Over fear of the emergence of the Omicron variant, NCOC earlier this month restricted travelling from 14 countries.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1470316178048491522

This decision was taken by the NCOC in a meeting chaired by the organisation’s chief and Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar. “Urgent travel from these countries to Pakistan will only be possible after getting a no-objection certificate from the special committee,” said the NCOC, adding that all the passengers coming to Pakistan must be vaccinated.

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The NCOC said all Pakistanis and foreigners above six-year-old will need to show the result of the PCR test conducted within 48 hours before boarding the flight.