LONDON: Pakistani students in the United Kingdom have expressed anger and frustration over the government’s decision to demand a mandatory coronavirus certificate from travellers entering the country after March 21 (Saturday).

According to a circular issued on March 17 by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), “all international arriving passengers to Pakistani airports shall be required to provide a copy of test result for Covid-19 through RT-PCR conducted during 24 hours prior to boarding the flight”.

The rule comes into effect from March 21, a decision taken by the government as a measure to limit the spread of the coronavirus in Pakistan.

On Wednesday, the British High Commission in a statement on Twitter said that UK health institutions did not issue coronavirus medical certificates. “The risk of being unable to enter Pakistan will be extremely high. You should factor this into your travel plans,” the statement added.

The development has caused panic among the nearly 40,000-strong Pakistani student body here. Scores of Pakistani students have booked flights to return to Pakistan as UK universities have shifted classes online in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. Many are also scheduled to visit their families in Pakistan for Easter break, which begins early April. However, they fear being stranded if they are unable to obtain these certificates required by the CAA.

CAA says authorities had to make a ‘difficult’ decision

“Students are afraid that their home borders may close so they are leaving in a rush to be with their loved ones and continue attending classes from their home countries,” said Rafia Saleem, a Chevening scholar who studies at the University of Sussex.

“Don’t authorities in Pakistan know that the UK is not testing people on demand and that only very sick people are being tested for Covid19? It is easy to sit in an office and issue a circular. Have they thought of its consequences?” she added.

The circular has sent hundreds of students scrambling to buy tickets to Pakistan before March 21 as they know obtaining a test in the UK is near-impossible.

As of last week, when UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Britain was no longer in the “contain” phase of the pandemic, most testing outside of hospitals stopped.

People with symptoms are expected to self-isolate but will not know whether they have Covid-19. Testing now mostly takes place in a hospital. People in intensive care units and those with respiratory illness, especially if it is pneumonia, will get tested for Covid-19. When there is a cluster of infections, such as an outbreak in a care home, those people will also be tested. The World Health Organisation has criticised the approach of countries that are not prioritising testing, with its director-general saying “you cannot fight a fire blindfolded … test, test, test”.

Some private clinics in the UK are offering coronavirus tests online for a charge of GBP345 to GBP500.

Shahbano Khan, who studies at the London School of Economics, told Dawn that students were on a very short budget and simply cannot afford to purchase such tests. “Our source of information is the British High Commission which is saying there are no certificates. How could our authorities make this decision? They should have seen what other countries are doing.”

Dr Anam Najam, another Chevening scholar and special needs student in London, said: “We are scared we are in a foreign country living away from our families. I have health issues as well. We were planning to go back to Pakistan. But this news of the test certificate means we are stuck. The government should rethink this. They should let us enter Pakistan, test us there and put us in quarantine if they can.”

“We are expecting a shortage of food. Especially for us getting halal foods in markets — markets will be closed. Please take notice and think of us whose families are back in Pakistan,” she said.

CAA spokesperson Sattar Khokhar said the authority was standing by its decision, and that it was not an easy choice.

“Despite our measures to check for symptoms and take body temperature at airports, it is a fact that some international travellers are asymptomatic i.e. no raised temperature or flu symptoms, yet could be carrying the virus. In light of this, we have made the difficult decision of asking for a certificate,” he said.

“We realise this is inconvenient, especially for those travelling from the UK and Canada as testing is not possible for everyone there, but we had to weigh the wellbeing of a 20 million population against the concerns of some students,” he added.

Earlier, a CAA spokesman had said original results shall be required at the disembarkation at airports in Pakistan and all airlines would be required to comply with the mandatory requirement. The spokesman said the restriction will remain in force till April 4.

Surprisingly, in a contradiction of the CAA spokesperson’s statement, Sahibzada Jahangir who is a spokesman for the prime minister in the UK, posted a message to his Facebook page saying: “I have been in touch with the Prime Minister Imran Khan Saab & Zulfi Bokhari Saab with regard to PIA requiring a medical certificate certifying that the intended passenger is cleared of Coronavirus. This was a very unrealistic demand & was causing lot of hardship to those wanting to travel to their Motherland. I am pleased to advise that the government had assured me that this demand will be put aside and Overseas Pakistanis will be permitted to travel without such certificate. “

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2020