Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister, said the earliest attempts in the pipeline to bring back stranded Pakistanis into the Gulf were made.

He said in a statement that there was also increased screening at airports and quarantine facilities.

He said opening the remaining airports has increased our ability to bring back six to seven thousand Pakistanis every week from abroad.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the world economy has been seriously affected by the coronavirus. He said that this pandemic would also increase pressure on the economy of Pakistan, as it has brought economic activity to a standstill and reduced our exports.

The foreign minister has said Pakistan has increased its coronavirus testing ability. He said we had three thousand previous testing capacities but by May it would reach twenty to thirty thousand.