RAWALPINDI: The government has granted permission to overseas Pakistanis to bring the bodies of Covid-19 victims home but after strictly following the guidelines issued by the health ministry and Civil Aviation Authority to avoid the spread of infections.

Aviation Division’s spokesman Abdul Sattar Khokhar told Dawn that the government had allowed the overseas Pakistanis to bring the bodies of Covid-19 victims back home but after following the guidelines of the Ministry of National Health Services Regul­ations and Coordination.

When asked how many Pakistani expatriates had contacted the embassies concerned for shifting of the body of their family member or friend to Pakistan so far, he said: “Though no such body has been airlifted to Pakistan from abroad so far, two requests for shifting of Covid-19 deceased have been made from France and Barcelona.”

The body should be enclosed in a sealed coffin in compliance with the airlines’s rules and regulations.

Under the guidelines, anyone coming in contact with the body must ensure the standard preventive measures, including hand washing and disinfection pre- and post-interaction with the body.

Minimum number of staff should be involved in handling and transferring of the body and they should wear appropriate personal protective equipment, long-sleeved fluid resistant gown, gloves, face shield or goggles, N95 mask and boots.

The environmental surfaces or waiting rooms where the body was kept before transferring to the aircraft should be disinfected and cleaned properly. While air transporting, the body should be wrapped in two clothes soaked in 10 per cent formalin solution.

Meanwhile, a Pakistan Inte­r­national Airlines (PIA) special flight carrying 380 passengers departed for Barcelona from Islamabad Inter­nati­onal Airport on Wed­nesday.

Before boarding the aircraft, all passengers were subjected to scanning and health check. Besides, the aircraft was also disinfected.

The PIA flight will return to Islamabad carrying the Pakistanis stranded in Spain.

Published in Dawn, May 14th, 2020