New Covid variant: Pakistan bans travel from seven countries

Pakistan on Saturday placed a complete ban on travel from seven countries in the wake of the discovery of a new variant of the coronavirus, Omicron, first detected in South Africa, according to the Notification issued by the National Command and Operation Centre.

The notification said travel had been restricted from six southern African countries, namely South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia, as well as Hong Kong.

Based on the emergence of the new covid variant, notification has been issued restrict travel from 6 south african countries and Hong Kong. The emergence of new variant makes it even more urgent to vaccinate all eligible citizens 12 years and older.

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) November 27, 2021

Earlier, Federal Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar announced the same in a tweet.

"Based on the emergence of the new covid variant, notification has been issued [to] restrict travel from 6 South African countries and Hong Kong," he said, adding that the "emergence of new variant makes it even more urgent to vaccinate all eligible citizens 12 years and older".