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Pakistanis travellers inoculated with the Chinese vaccine against coronavirus will have to undergo mandatory quarantine in Saudi Arabia as per new conditions imposed by the Kingdom.
The conditions have made it difficult for a lot of Pakistanis to travel to the Arab country. Saudi Arabia has issued a list of recommended vaccines, which does not include vaccines manufactured in China. Passengers who do not receive the shots from the recommended vaccines will have to undergo a mandatory quarantine period in Saudi Arabia, The News International reported. The cost of the quarantine will have to be paid by the passengers themselves. Most people in Pakistan are being vaccinated with the coronavirus vaccines manufactured by China, due to which a lot of Pakistanis are figuring out how to travel to the Kingdom. Pfizer, Oxford, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson's coronavirus vaccines have been recommended by the kingdom for use. The proposed conditions will be implemented from May 20. Pakistan launched its coronavirus vaccination drive on February 2, after receiving the first batch of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. In its first phase, Pakistan has been vaccinating frontline healthcare workers. The campaign will soon be extended to include citizens under 40 years old. Sinopharm, developed by a state-run pharmaceutical company in China, has shown to be 79 per cent effective. Pakistan has been able to vaccinate only 0.8 per cent of its total population so far and experts said the reason for this low rate is negative publicity and a shortage of vaccines, DW reported. Experts said Pakistan's vaccination drive is moving at a very slow pace. As of May 6, Pakistan had vaccinated 3.32 million people or just 0.8 per cent of its population of 216 million. The percentage of vaccinations per 100 people also stands at just 1.53 per cent, against the global average of 16.44 per cent, DW news reported. (ANI)
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