The United States has promoted Pakistan to the Level 3 category in its latest travel advisory issued on Tuesday, 8th September. In the updated advisory, the US placed India in the ‘do not travel’ category as the COVID-19 situation in the Hindu-majority country worsened. The categorization of countries in the revised travel advisory of the state department of the US corresponds to the current COVID-19 situation in these countries.
The US had placed Pakistan in the Level 4 category in the travel advisory issued last month. The promotion of Pakistan to a higher category is attributed to the effective policies of the government of Pakistan to curtail the spread of COVID-19, suggest reports. On the other hand, neighboring India continues to reel with the lowest category 4 as coronavirus cases continue to escalate in the Hindu-majority nation.
US State Department issues Level 3 travel advisory for Pakistan https://t.co/nsJD2t2gR0
— Zahir Rahimtoola (@zahirrahimtoola) September 9, 2020
Read more: Pakistanis to participate in clinical trials of ‘Made in China’ coronavirus vaccine
Pakistan has gained widespread praise for intelligently monitoring and controlling the spread of COVID-19. However, India has become the country with the second-highest number of coronavirus cases in the world. So far, India has reported nearly 4.2m cases of COVID-19.
India recorded 90,000 cases of COVID-19 overnight, bringing the total cases to 4.2m. With the latest figures – India has outstripped Brazil that records 4.1m cases-as the second-most worst-hit country by a coronavirus. India is now behind the US with 6.2 million cases so far, reported The Guardian.
US revises its travel advisory for #Pakistan, places it at Level 3 https://t.co/0FAidXm9XI
— The Tribune (@thetribunechd) September 9, 2020
Volkan Bozkir, the president-elect of the United Nations General Assembly, has endorsed Pakistan’s gains in the fight against the pandemic. Bill Gates, an American business magnate and philanthropist, has also lauded Pakistan’s efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak in a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Read more: The greatest mystery of our times: How did Pakistan contain the coronavirus?
The country reported its first case of the deadly virus on February 26 and went into a three-week lockdown in late March. In the subsequent months, the caseload kept climbing, peaking at 6,825 new cases in a single day on June 13. While it recorded 153 deaths, its highest to date, on June 19.
The curious case of the low number of virus cases in Pakistan has forced medical experts and scientists to carefully scrutinize out the country’s strategy to combat the virus. The medical experts from all over the world are still searching for definite answers to the unexpected low numbers of COVID-19 in Pakistan.