Pakistan orders masks on domestic flights

PAKISTAN, FRANCE: Pakistan’s aviation regulator has made masks mandatory on domestic flights given a gradual rise in the number of COVID-19 cases across the country, it said a statement.

The order comes a day after Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, reported that its COVID-19 positivity ratio, or the rate of positive cases out of all tests conducted, rose to 21 percent compared with a national rate of 2.8 percent.

“With immediate effect, mask wearing will be mandatory onboard domestic flights,” the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) said in the statement late on Sunday.

Pakistan has had very few COVID cases over recent months and had done away with almost all precautions.

A month ago, the positivity ratio was 0.54 percent with 79 positive cases and no deaths. According to the National Institute of Health,Islamabad (NIH), 85 percent of eligible Pakistanis have been fully vaccinated against COVID.

Meanwhile, French people should start wearing masks again in crowded areas, especially in public transport, as France has to deal with a new wave of COVID-19 infections fuelled by new variants of the disease, Health Minister Brigitte Bourguignon said on Monday.

– JAPAN TODAY, ARAB NEWS