Shaheer Ahmed
Rapid Antigen Test is one of the covid restrictions that is a part of airport travel protocol during covid. This test is the fastest way of detecting whether a person has Covid symptoms or not. Whenever in Pakistan, there is a surge in covid cases the government tightens up the lockdown restrictions, and when the cases or positivity rate declines the restrictions eases up. This is the very reason why rapid antigen has been ended for inbound passengers.
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) also known as Pakistan’s nerve center to combat coronavirus on February 8th, 2022 announced that the inbound passengers don’t have to take the rapid antigen test. Ye tou ghabaranay wali baat hoye. Recently, we saw a decline in the positivity ratio and now the restrictions are being lifted on the passengers. Kyun ab un mein corona phelanay ki himmat nahien rahe ya corona un ko lagnay sei darta hai….. Anyhow, non-vaccinated people and deportees from abroad will have to take the rapid antigen tests.
Planning Minister Asad Umar chaired the NCOC session. Many other issues were discussed in this session like the progress of national vaccination, statistics related to covid, protocols related to inbound health services, and PSL’s second phase. NCOC announcements related to PSL are going to make the cricket fans excited. From February 16 onwards 100 percent of strength would be allowed to watch the PSL in the stadium. Isn’t it amazing news?
There have also been some announcements made related to the prices of COVID tests. Recently, the government was also called upon because of the high prices of the covid tests. To bring some uniformity and control the prices of covid tests from private hospitals the Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority (IHRA), set the prices of the tests. This step has made it easy for people to afford covid cases. The new prices for RT-PCR covid-19 tests are:
- Tests conducted using Abbot, Qiagen, and Roche kits will cost Rs 5000 per test.
- Tests conducted using other kits besides the three mentioned above will cost 3,500 per test.
We hope this pandemic ends soon. It has caused us a lot be it health or money. Still, it is mandatory to take necessary precautions to avoid contracting covid. In this way, you’ll be doing a favor to yourself and your loved ones. Stay Safe, Stay Healthy!
