NDMA held a review session with team of National Institute of Health (NIH) & Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on covid situation and surveillance mechanisms at airports in the wake of the threat posed by the new BF.7 Omicron variant of Covid-19. Chairman NDMA, Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik presided the session. NIH showed detailed statistics on COVID management and vaccination administration data in Pakistan. It was briefed that Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) & Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests of inbound passengers had been conducted at all airports of country as per policy in vogue. NIH officials told the forum that vaccination & screening test of pedestrians are being executed at Torkham border on daily basis. CAA informed that efficient system with a proper management team was fully functional at airports to remain vigilant and related logistic arrangements had been made to deal with any sub-variant of Covid-19. Chairman NDMA expressed confidence in country’s anti-covid strategies & national preparedness regime. However, he instructed NIH to issue precautionary advisories for educational institutes, social gatherings and communities and conduct weekly media briefing to sensitize the public & stakeholders. He emphasized on continuous monitoring of global spread & behavior of sub-variant, and measures undertaken by other countries accordingly to counter the strain.
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