E-Paper
Two customs officials quarantined after 2 Pakistani nationals test positive on their return via Attari
Punjab health department has alerted its counterparts in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh where the Pakistan nationals had been staying on medical visa before their return on March 29
The Punjab health department has home-quarantined two Customs officials posted at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari after two of the five Pakistani nationals who returned home through the Attari-Wagah land border on Sunday, tested positive for Covid-19.
The five Pakistani nationals —Chaudhary Muhammad Ashfaq, who underwent a medical follow-up at Fortis Hospital, New Delhi; his attendant, Muhammad Asif; Nighat Mukhtar, who got a liver transplant done at Fortis Hospital, Noida; his attendant Yasir Mukhtar; and a donor, Muhammad Khalid—had been in India on medical visa.
According to the Pakistani media, Yasir Mukhtar and Muhammad Khalid were found suffering from Covid-19 and admitted to the isolation ward at Service Hospital in Lahore.
CAME IN SPECIAL AMBULANCE
The group was allowed to return to Pakistan after the Union ministry of external affairs granted them special permission. The permission was granted when the Pakistan high commission in New Delhi wrote to the ministry on March 26, saying the five men had been “stranded”.
A special ambulance was arranged to take them from Noida and Delhi to Attari.
The ambulance ferried them on Saturday night.
“The two men found positive in Pakistan were checked by two Customs officials at the ICP. They have been quarantined in their homes. A team of doctors has also been deployed to conduct regular screening and checkups of the officials,” Amritsar civil surgeon, Dr Prabhdeep Kaur Johal, said.
She said health department officials in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh have also been alerted.
PAK RANGERS INFORMED BSF
A Border Security Force (BSF) official at Attari said the BSF authorities were informed by Pakistani Rangers on Tuesday about the two Pakistani men testing positive for Covid-19. Subsequently, the health department was informed.
On March 14, India suspended cross-border trade and movement of passengers through the Attari-Wagah border till April 15 as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus outbreak. But diplomats, officials of the United Nations (UN) and other international organisations, and employment and project visa-holders were excluded from the ban.
On March 19, Pakistan too closed its borders for 14 days. Since then, thousands of Pakistan nationals have been stranded in India and Indians in Pakistan.
