Pakistan allows special flight for passengers stranded at Bangkok airport

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government will allow the operation of a special flight by Thai Airways to bring 175 stranded passengers from Bangkok to Islamabad, the aviation division said on Saturday.
Hundreds of Pakistanis in transit were left stranded at airports across the world after the federal government suspended all incoming international flights on March 22 as part of sweeping measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
“In order to facilitate the stranded passengers at Bangkok, government of Pakistan has decided to allow operation of one flight by Thai Airways to Islamabad. It will be a special flight to Islamabad with about 175 passengers on board. These passengers were in transit in Bangkok, Thailand,” a spokesperson for the aviation division, Abdul Sattar Khokhar told Arab News in Islamabad.
Khokhar said the passengers would be subject to strict health screening as advised by the ministry of health.
“All passengers will go through thermal scanning and RT-PCR swab testing. After the test, all passengers will be kept in strict isolation till the final result of the tests,” he said.
Those testing negative for the coronavirus will be allowed to return to their homes with instructions to keep themselves self-isolated for 14 days, he added.
“Those passengers whose test will be COVID-19 positive will be taken to quarantine from the airport for further treatment,” he said.
After the global spread of the virus and the suspension of flights by various governments around the world, it is Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to conduct swab tests of every passenger, Khokhar explained.
“Thermal scanner just checks body temperature and sometimes passenger carries virus without temperature. We have tested all passengers of two special flights during the last week and will do the same for the passengers of this Thai airline flight as well,” he said.