Private medical laboratories and travel agents in Pakistan are pocketing tens of thousands of dollars a day from fake polymerase chain reaction pre-flight test reports for international travelers, an investigation by Arab News shows, as authorities admit they are aware of the practice.

About 20,000 passengers fly out of Pakistani airports every day, with many required to undergo pre-flight testing before departure.

With the help of a whistleblower travel agent, Arab News recorded the process of obtaining a fake PCR report.

“All over Pakistan, wherever you go to any travel agent to get a ticket, they will offer you to manage a PCR too,” the whistleblower, who did not want to be named due to risks to his business, said. “They have contacts with labs and owners of medical labs have connections with airlines. They are all a mafia.”

The whistleblower booked a ticket for an Arab News team member to travel to a Middle Eastern country, took a scanned copy of the passport and a photo of the traveler holding a swab stick. But then, after the photo was taken, he took his own sample, not the traveler’s.

He then sent copies of the ticket, passport and the photo to a medical lab through WhatsApp to obtain the report.

“Medical labs give us a swab stick that we use to take a photo (of the traveler) to send to the lab,” he said.

While labs take hours to process samples for PCR screening, the agent received a negative COVID-19 test result within 14 minutes, together with a fit-to-travel certificate and an original QR code with a photo of the Arab News team member.

“At airports, they just check the barcode,” he said. “They scan the barcode and allow you to travel if it is negative.”

Obtaining pre-flight COVID-19 reports from travel agents saves passengers not only the time they would spend queuing for testing and waiting for the sample to be processed, but also the worry that they may be unfit for the journey.

“If a passenger tries to get a report directly from a lab, there are chances that he may turn out COVID-19 positive,” the whistleblower agent said. “Passengers request us to manage a negative report.”

While medical labs charge up to Rs5,500 (about $31) per PCR test, travel agents cooperating with labs get about 20 percent of the fee.

“We prefer to fake a test by ourselves, and this way we take our share,” he said. “If a hundred people are traveling, only one or two of them will have an authentic report.”

At this estimated rate and with an average of 100 passengers per flight, the whole business could be worth tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars a day, insiders in the business say.

Authorities admit they are aware of the PCR black market. 

Planning Minister Asad Umar, who oversees Pakistan’s pandemic response, told Arab News action was taken whenever such practices were reported, but the issue was not for the Pakistani authorities to handle.

“That (PCR tests) is not the requirement of the government of Pakistan, that is the requirement of the countries they (travelers) are traveling to,” he said. “So, the government of Pakistan has really nothing to do with it.”

Health professionals disagree.

The Pakistan Medical Association said the government should look into it as a “serious issue.”

“If a COVID-positive person travels, he can cause a rapid transmission in the plane and host countries’ communities,” the association’s secretary general, Dr. Qaiser Sajjad, said. “This can bring international disrepute.”

Source: Arab News

Businesses in Rwanda have resumed normal operations Saturday after the government lifted the night curfew that has been in place for two years since the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.

The decision comes as Covid-19 cases drop and after Rwanda reached its Covid-19 vaccination target of fully vaccinating 60 percent of the population or 7.8 million out of 12.9 million population on March 4.

A Cabinet meeting on Friday night chaired by President Paul Kagame also resolved to reopen all of Rwanda’s land borders starting Monday, March 7. The borders have been closed for the last two years, with only returning citizens and cargo trucks allowed to cross.

While other activities have been allowed to operate 24 hours, nightclubs, bars, concerts, live bands, and betting activities are prohibited to exceed 2 pm.

Weddings, funerals, conferences, and meetings can be held at full venue capacity, while the 72-hour Covid-19 test requirement for attendants in public events has been reduced to 48 hours.

However, citizens and residents are obliged to get fully vaccinated — two Covid-19 doses and a booster shot for those eligible — to access public services and places.

The Cabinet meeting was also briefed on Rwanda’s joining of the International Vaccine Institute as Rwanda positions itself to receive the vaccine manufacturing plant from BioNTech this year.

Rwanda targets to fully vaccinate 9.1 million people by July this year. The Ministry of Health has installed mobile clinics in public places such as markets, malls, and bus stations to ease access to the vaccine.

Restaurants, public buses, and event managers are required to ensure that attendants are fully vaccinated and tested for Covid-19.

“The Ministry of Health may temporarily close public or private premises with identified clusters of people infected with Covid-19,” the Cabinet meeting communique stated.

The statement also urged the public to continue adhering to Covid-19 preventive measures, including properly wearing face masks, frequently washing hands, and inoculation.

Rwanda has seen a drastic drop in Covid-19 cases for the last two months, with the positivity rate dropping from five percent in December to the current 0.3 percent.

Since January 26, Rwanda has been adhering to a midnight curfew. It also allowed some major events to take place, including the recently concluded Tour du Rwanda cycling, music, and other sports in Kigali stadiums.

The current guidelines will be reviewed in one month upon health assessment.

Source: The East African

The mandatory wearing of masks has now been lifted, Health CS Mutahi Kagwe has announced.

“However, people should maintain social distancing to ensure risk of spread is limited,” he said.

He however encouraged the wearing of masks during indoor functions to curb the spread of Covid-19 disease.

“All Kenyans to continue to adhere to social measures, ensure frequent hand washing, sanitising and exercise personal responsibility,” he said.

“There has been a lot of debate on facemasks.  Wearing of facemasks in open places is now lifted.”

Kagwe said Kenyans should be strict with ministry of heath protocols of sanitisation when in places that are not open.

“If you are going to eat in a meat joint, the standards must be high. The sanitation, washing of hands must be top notch,” he said.

“You must respect the people eating in your joint. You must respect your customers and make sure it is clean. There will be penalties if that does not happen.”

Speaking when he addressed the media on Friday, Kagwe said worship places will have a full capacity provided the congregants are vaccinated.

Kenya reported 323, 140 cases of Covid-19 and 5,644 deaths but the inoculation rate remains low, with only 28.5 percent of the adult population fully vaccinated as of March 10, 2022, according to the latest Ministry of Health figures.

The Ministry of Health imposed a nationwide mask mandate on April 3, 2020, at the height of Covid-19 infections.

The National Police Service moved to enforce the regulations alongside social distancing guidelines.

Some regulations such as curfew, social distancing were later lifted amid an economic outcry.

President Uhuru Kenyatta announced the decision to lift the curfew during Mashujaa Day last year.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late on Thursday said some 98% of the US population live in locations where Covid-19 levels are low enough that people do not need to wear masks indoors.

The CDC on Feb. 25 dramatically eased its COVID-19 guidelines for when Americans should wear masks indoors, saying they could drop them in counties experiencing what it described as low or medium COVID-19 levels. 

Last month, the CDC initially said 70% of counties covering 72% of Americans could drop masks. The latest update says 98% of Americans who live in 94% of U.S. counties can ditch masks.

The revised figures may give ammunition to critics who want the administration to lift mask requirements on airplanes, trains and in transit hubs.

Source: The Star

Expo 2020 Dubai Covid-19 preventive measures will continue to include the mandatory wearing of masks indoors.

While event organisers do not mandate the wearing of masks at outdoor public areas, guests and staff are encouraged to continue to do so at popular entertainment venues with large attendance.

Health and safety remains a key priority, with stringent rules in place across the site. All Expo visitors ages 18 and above must show either proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test result taken within the previous 72 hours, while on-site measures include mask-wearing for visitors, staff and participants, and PCR testing facilities for Country Pavilion staff, frontline workers, and entertainers.

The Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management on Saturday, January 26, announced updates to Covid-19 precautionary measures in the UAE, according to WAM, the UAE state news agency.

Source: Khaleej Times

Uganda has dropped the mandatory requirement for Covid-19 testing at its main entry point in Entebbe.

The announcement, on Wednesday, follows a Monday Cabinet decision that noted that few new cases were being recorded at the airport and that the threat of new coronavirus variants and community transmissions has reduced.

“Mandatory Covid-19 testing of all incoming travellers at Entebbe International Airport upon arrival has been stopped with effect from 16 February 2022,” said Dr Henry Mwebesa, the director of health services at the Ministry of Health, in a statement.

Uganda has, however, maintained the requirement for travellers to be tested 72 hours before arrival or departure from the airport.

“Our health workers will continue to screen all travellers both at arrival and departure and verify their Covid-19 test certificates,” said Dr Mwebesa.

The government imposed the restrictions in September last year following the detection of more variants of Omicron imported from neighbouring countries in travellers who arrived via the airport.

Previously, arrivals were only required to show a valid negative PCR certificate obtained from an accredited lab in their countries of origin.

While talking to local media on Wednesday afternoon, Works Minister Gen Katumba Wamala confirmed the suspension of Covid testing, saying it would apply to all points of entry.

Travellers paid $30 for the tests even if they possessed negative PCR results from their departure points.

The measures had brought business to a standstill at Malaba and Busia along the Kenya border with Uganda as truck drivers protested the mandatory tests and costs. The strike led to a fuel shortage in the landlocked country, forcing the government to cut the cost to $25 and eventually suspend testing for truck drivers only.

Source: The East African

IATA reported a sharp 11-percentage point increase for international tickets sold in recent weeks (in proportion to 2019 sales). 

• In the period around 8 February (7 day moving average) the number of tickets sold stood at 49% of the same period in 2019.
• In the period around 25 January (7 day moving average) the number of tickets sold stood at 38% of the same period in 2019.
• The 11-percentage point improvement between the January and February periods is the fastest such increase for any two-week period since the crisis began.

The jump in ticket sales comes as more governments announce a relaxation of COVID-19 border restrictions. An IATA survey of travel restrictions for the world’s top 50 air travel markets (comprising 92% of global demand in 2019 as measured by revenue passenger kilometers) revealed the growing access available to vaccinated travelers.

• 18 markets (comprising about 20% of 2019 demand) are open to vaccinated travelers without quarantine or pre-departure testing requirements.
• 28 markets are open to vaccinated travelers without quarantine requirements (including the 18 markets noted above). This comprises about 50% of 2019 demand.
• 37 markets (comprising about 60% of 2019 demand) are open to vaccinated travelers under varying conditions (18 having no restrictions, others requiring testing or quarantine or both).

These numbers reflect a spate of relaxations announced around the world, including in Australia, France, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Sweden.

“Momentum toward normalizing traffic is growing. Vaccinated travelers have the potential to travel much more extensively with fewer hassles than even a few weeks ago. This is giving growing numbers of travelers the confidence to buy tickets. And that is good news! Now we need to further accelerate the removal of travel restrictions. While recent progress is impressive, the world remains far from 2019 levels of connectivity. Thirteen of the top 50 travel markets still do not provide easy access to all vaccinated travelers. That includes major economies like China, Japan, Russia, Indonesia, and Italy,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General.

IATA continues to call for: 

• Removing all travel barriers (including quarantine and testing) for those fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved vaccine
• Enabling quarantine-free travel for non-vaccinated travelers with a negative pre-departure antigen test result
• Removing travel bans
• Accelerating the easing of travel restrictions in recognition that travelers pose no greater risk for COVID-19 spread than already exists in the general population.

“Travel restrictions have had a severe impact on people and on economies. They have not, however, stopped the spread of the virus. And it is time for their removal as we learn to live and travel in a world that will have risks of COVID-19 for the foreseeable future. This means putting a stop to the singling out of the traveling population for special measures. In nearly all cases, travelers don’t bring any more risk to a market than is already there. Many governments have recognized this already and removed restrictions. Many more need to follow,” said Walsh.

Source: Airlines

Traveling around Europe may be about to get less complicated for fully vaccinated travelers from countries within the European Union.

The EU is recommending that vaccinated residents should not be required to undergo testing or quarantine measures when entering member states.

Under the new advice, which comes into effect on February 1, restrictions would be lifted for those who hold a valid EU Digital Covid Certificate in a “coordinated approach to facilitate safe free movement” across Europe.

This means that fully vaccinated travelers could be allowed to move freely around the bloc’s 27 member states provided each country follows the guidance.

Individual EU destinations are permitted to issue their own additional restrictions, and many have opted to do so since the bloc’s first recommendations on restrictions were issued at the start of the pandemic.

‘Co-ordinated approach’

While the guidance change would also apply to those who’ve recently recovered from Covid-19, testing requirements would remain in place for the unvaccinated.

“This recommendation responds to the significant increase in vaccine uptake and the rapid roll-out of the EU Digital Covid certificate, and replaces the previously existing recommendation,” a statement from the European Council says.

The update guidance, which was announced on Tuesday, stresses that “a traveler’s Covid-19 vaccination, test or recovery status, as evidenced by a valid EU digital Covid Certificate, should be the key determinant” for travel within Europe moving forward.

However, exceptions may be advisable with regards to “travel to and from dark red areas, where the virus is circulating at very high levels.”

Those who do not hold a digital certificate may be required to undergo a test no later than 24 hours after their arrival.

The news comes after Dr. Hans Kluge, director for the World Health Organization’s European region, released a statement indicating that the emergence of the Omicron variant may lead to an end to “the emergency phase” of the pandemic this year.

“Omicron offers plausible hope for stabilization and normalization,” he said, before warning nations not to drop their guard just yet as, “too many people who need the vaccine remain unvaccinated.”

Source: CNN Travel

Britain is ending COVID-19 restrictions, including mask mandates, working from home and vaccine passports, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Wednesday.

The measures had been introduced to slow the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the virus.

“Many nations across Europe have endured further winter lockdowns … but this government took a different path,” Johnson told lawmakers, citing a decreasing number of people being admitted to intensive care because of the virus.

“Our scientists believe it is likely that the omicron wave has now peaked nationally … because of the extraordinary booster campaign,” Johnson said, adding that restrictions also had slowed the spread.

Some scientists disagree with the move.

“Removing (the) measures in the face of extremely high levels of infection is a risk,” University of Warwick virologist Lawrence Young said.

“Perhaps it would have been wiser to wait for another couple of weeks before removing the advice to work from home and the face coverings mandate. There’s no guarantee that infection levels will continue to fall.”

Britain has seen 152,513 deaths since the virus emerged from China in early 2020.

Johnson is currently facing a political crisis, including criticism from his own party, for hosting parties during the peak of lockdowns in the country.

Some say the easing of restrictions is an attempt by Johnson to shore up support among conservatives who disagreed with them.

Johnson said despite the moves, “We must all remain cautious during these last weeks of winter,” adding that hospitals still could see increased cases.

“The pandemic is not over,” he cautioned.

Source: VOA

In its latest travel advisory issued Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) moved Canada to its highest risk level category, “Level 4: Very High COVID-19.”

With the new designation, most of the world’s countries as well as nearly every county in the U.S. are on the agency’s list of places to which Americans travelers should avoid non-essential trips. There are currently 81 countries and territories ranked as Level 4 by the CDC, with nearly all of Europe, Scandinavia, Canada, and the U.S. a deep shade of red (which indicates the highest level of transmission) on the organization’s world map tracking the virus.

“If you must travel to these destinations, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel,” the CDC travel guidelines say.

A handful of countries, including Mexico and most countries in South America, are ranked in the CDC’s slightly less urgent category “Level 3: COVID-19 High.” 

While the majority of destinations are still allowing fully vaccinated travelers to visit if they follow certain testing protocols, many governments are discouraging tourists. Canada, for one, has been ramping up testing requirements for arriving visitors, and the nation’s government has also been discouraging its citizens from traveling abroad.

On the other end of the spectrum, Mexico’s borders remain open to travelers from both the U.S. and around the world with very few restrictions: Travelers aren’t currently required to show a negative test result to enter. Similarly, the U.K. recently relaxed its requirement for a pre-departure test for fully vaccinated travelers in favor of a test within two days of arrival.

But advice from health officials in the U.S. on what modes of travel are safe have slowly been growing more stringent in recent weeks. In late December, the CDC travel guidelines for cruise ships were upgraded to Level 4, and the top infectious disease doctor in the U.S. Dr. Anthony Fauci made a more vocal case for a vaccination requirement for domestic flights, saying in an interview with MSNBC that the measure is “something that should be seriously considered.”

Source: Conde Nest Traveller

Inbound international flights to China are operating at a fraction of comparable 2020 numbers and don’t look like recovering any time soon. If anything, capacity may further tighten. Among many industries, the aviation industry is a casualty of China’s zero-COVID policy.

While most of the world wrestles with learning to live with COVID, China maintains a zero-COVID stance, attempting to crush the virus wherever it appears. Anyang, with a population of about five and a half million people, Xi’an, home to around 13 million people, and Yuzhou, where over one million people live, are all experiencing extremely tough lockdowns.

No Olympics financial sugar hit for the aviation industry

China closed its international borders to nearly all foreigners in March 2020, shutting down the inbound tourism and business markets. China has not relaxed that policy since. If anything, they’ve become tougher on who they award the few visas they grant to. That’s having a big impact on the aviation industry.

Beijing is set to host the Winter Olympics in February. Normally, the Olympics offers a guaranteed boost in passengers numbers for airlines flying into the host city. But Beijing is not inviting non-residents, which neutralizes any airline’s chances of a quick financial sugar rush from the games.

According to Bloomberg, across January 8 – 15, 2020, China welcomed around 10,000 international flights. This week, the country will see about 500 international flights land, and capacity cuts are intensifying.

Beijing penalizes airlines

China appears hell-bent on hosting the Olympics next month, and if that means tightening movement and travel restrictions to curb the threat of COVID, so be it. Airlines are being penalized for flying in passengers who later test positive to COVID.

Those penalties usually involve blocking a fixed number of future flights. As a result, this week, American Airlines confirmed it had axed six of its flights from Dallas-Fort Worth to Shanghai in late January and early February.

United Airlines has canceled six flights from San Francisco to Shanghai in late January, and Delta Air Lines had also canceled a couple of flights. Even the flights that do get to go ahead are limited to flying 75% of their maximum capacity.

“We don’t expect international travel to and from China to recover to 2019 levels for the next three quarters at least,” said John Grant, OAG’s chief analyst. Grant noted in the lead up to COVID-19, China had been one of the fastest-growing airline markets in the world.

It’s not just US carriers feeling the pinch. Four China Southern flights from Los Angeles to Guangzhou in early February are canceled. So far this year, more than 60 flights on the China-United States country pair have been canceled.

Normalization of flights to China a long way off

The big three US airlines and four Chinese carriers continue to maintain scaled-back flights between the two countries. And China’s heavy-handed approach extends beyond the United States. Multiple flights from France and Canada have been suspended this week.

Now under the control of Beijing, Hong Kong last week banned all flights from eight countries for two weeks. From this weekend, Hong Kong will also ban transit passengers from 150 countries for one month.

“The abrupt re-imposition of travel restrictions by many governments in the face of the rising spread of the omicron variant threatens to hold back the long-awaited revival of Asia’s travel and tourism industry,” said Subhas Menon, Director General of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines recently.

China is expected to issue special landing permits for participants and officials flying in for the Olympics before reverting to their current zero-COVID-related entry policies.

Source: Simple Flying