By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: A passenger from Iran could enter in Pakistan only after prior screening and monitoring of coronavirus within Iran under an understanding between the two countries, sources said on Sunday.
Pakistan has decided to enforce a mechanism in coordination with Iran amid coronavirus fears, which is already being implemented for movement between Pakistan and China.
Under the mechanism the entry of passengers in Pakistan from Iran will be conditioned with their prior screening test and completing a monitoring period of two weeks, according to sources.
The health officials of Iran will conduct screening of each passenger before their crossing the border. The people will be allowed entry in Pakistan after they will be declared clear of the virus after screening and monitoring for two weeks, sources added.
Iranian authorities will keep the passengers at isolation centres for two weeks before allowing them moving to Pakistan, sources said.
“If the virus detected in a person during the monitoring period they will be treated in Iran by the local authorities,” sources said.
“If they will get clear in the screening test and monitoring they will enter in Pakistan and will be retained at isolation centres for further two weeks for screening and monitoring,” sources said.
After completion of the monitoring period the passengers will be granted permission for entry in Pakistan, sources added.
Moreover, Balochistan health department has wholly allocated Shaikh Zayed Hospital in Quetta for likely patients of novel coronavirus and suspended general services in the hospital for the time being.
All four general wards of the hospital have been converted into isolation wards for patients of coronavirus, officials added. The Taftan border between Pakistan and Iran remains closed for eight day Sunday after a temporary opening.
More 510 pilgrims have been sent to Pakistan House for proper medical checkup. The authorities told that camps, quilts, masks and food are being provided to the pilgrims.
Let it be known that Pakistan had on Friday temporarily reopened the Taftan border allowing its stranded pilgrims to cross into Pakistan after strict screening.
The spokesperson for the Balochistan government Liaquat Shahwani had confirmed that 350 pilgrims reached Taftan after being permitted to enter from the Pakistan-Iran border. They were shifted to the border by the Iranian authorities after their visas expired.
Afghanistan and Pakistan share long, porous borders with Iran. Millions of Afghan refugees currently live in the Islamic Republic — raising fears that the virus could easily spread over the border.
Pakistan — bordered by China to the north and Iran to the south — also suffers the additional burden of having a lacklustre healthcare system following decades of under-investment by the state, leaving impoverished, rural communities especially vulnerable.
Balochistan in particular is woefully unprepared to handle a public health emergency after being beset for decades by a separatist insurgency, jihadist violence, and neglect from the central government. The novel coronavirus has spread to more than 25 countries, with more than 2,500 dead in China, and is causing mounting alarm due to new pockets of outbreaks in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Pakistan is closing one of its two border crossings with Afghanistan for a week to prevent the spread of coronavirus, officials said Sunday.
The announcement comes a day after Pakistan detected two new cases of the virus bringing the total number of infected patients to four.
Officials said the Chaman/Spinboldak crossing point would close from Monday, but a second point at Torkhum in the northwest would remain open.
Pakistan is sandwiched between China and Iran — which are both fighting major outbreaks — sparking fears about the country’s ability to cope with an epidemic of its own.
The country has suspended all flights to Iran and closed land borders.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are divided by the “Durand Line”, a 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) frontier with Villages straddling the border and mosques and houses having one door in Pakistan and another in Afghanistan.
The virus has now killed more than 2,900 people and infected over 83,000 worldwide, with an increasing number of new cases being reported each day.
The Sindh government on Sunday decided to keep all educational institutions in the province closed until March 13 in view of the threat posed by the novel coronavirus.
The decision was taken by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who was heading the fourth meeting of the committee formed to review the situation in the wake of the first case of the virus reported in Karachi on February 26, according to information released by Shah’s office.
During the meeting, the chief minister was informed that 738 passengers had arrived in Karachi from Iran till now, while 13,098 had arrived at Taftan.
The meeting decided to keep all educational institutions closed till March 13 as this would give the authorities time to ascertain how many of the people returning from Iran had met their children and relatives. Keeping this in mind, Chief Minister Shah after consultation with the committee members directed the secretaries for education, colleges, and universities and boards to issue notifications for the closure of educational institutions till the said date.
The meeting justified that till that time, the recommended isolation period of 14 days would also be over and the authorities would also be able to screen the passengers returning from Iran as well as any relatives they may have come into contact with.
The committee was informed that six suspects belonging to Khairpur, Jacobabad, Tando Jam and Karachi South were being kept in quarantine and their samples were sent for testing.
The result of one of the six samples was received which was negative, while results of the remaining five samples were awaited.
Last week, when Pakistan confirmed its first two cases of coronavirus, the Sindh government had decided to close educational institutions in the province for two days on Thursday and Friday (Feb 27 and Feb 28).
The Sindh administration had on Saturday asked families who have recently visited Iran not to send their children to schools for 14 days.
