ISLAMABAD: Starting Thursday, Pakistan will suspend all domestic flights as part of efforts to stem the coronavirus pandemic in the country, as the infected number of patients grew to 1,000 on Wednesday with seven deaths reported.
“Government of Pakistan, after due consultation with all airline operators, has decided to suspend all types of domestic scheduled/nonscheduled (CMM) chartered and private aircraft passenger flight operations with effect from Thursday 26th March 2020 at 0600 hours PST,” a statement released by the Civil Aviation Division said on Tuesday.
It added, however, that the suspension would not apply to cargo and select flights subject to necessary clearance and “will end on 2nd April 2020 at 0559 hours.”
The move follows a March 21 directive which temporarily suspended all international flights to and from Pakistan.
Meanwhile, as part of the virus containment measures, the government has also discontinued all passenger train operations from Wednesday until March 31, in addition to imposing a partial lockdown across the country, and deploying the army to assist civil administration officials in enforcing social distancing measures.
