LONDON: The UK government has said that low testing rates and the lack of genomic surveillance in Pakistan are causes of concern for them, as it gets ready to review the names of countries on the Red List on Wednesday night.
Some credible sources in both Pakistan and UK shared full details of the Red List review with this correspondent, explaining the progress made and the continuing issues around the COVID-19 response of the Pakistani authorities.
The UK’s action of putting Pakistan on the Red List continuously has caused friction between the two countries to the extent that Pakistan refused to allow permission to a chartered flight on September 7, which was set to take off from London for Islamabad.
Twenty-five Pakistani national deportees were on the flight.
Diplomatic sources confirmed that Pakistan told the Home Office that it will not accept the flight as a token of protest over its action to keep the country continuously on the Red List.
The Pakistan High Commission denied the flight cancellation was linked with the Red Listing. However, a source in the UK government linked the flight cancellation – which cost the UK govt over £100,000 – with the Red Listing.
