Islamabad: The federal government announced on Saturday that the country’s international flight operations would remain suspended till May 15 due to the continuing coronavirus situation, a news source reported.
Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the government was trying to repatriate as many Pakistanis as possible before Eid-ul-Fitr – for which the capacity of repatriation through flights has been improved up to 7,000 per week. He revealed that Qatar Airline had also been reached for assistance. Qureshi informed that the government could repatriate only 2,000 people per week owing to the testing capacity limitations.
Meanwhile, Qureshi also addressed the Pakistani community residing in the United States (US) through a video link. Foreign Affairs Secretary Sohail Mahmood and Pakistani Ambassador to United States Asad Majeed, among other embassy officials, also attended the video session.
In a separate proceeding, the British government announced that additional nine special chartered flights would bring back about 5,000 British nationals from Pakistan.
