760 Pakistanis stranded across India amid COVID lockdown, repatriated till date by Centre

India allowed the repatriation of 74 Pakistanis stranded across cities due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown on Thurday, informed the Pakistan High Commission. Since 20 March, when the first lockdown was implemented, over 760 Pakistani nationals have been repatriated till date via the Wagah-Attari border. The Pakistani citizens are stuck in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. While India's COVID-19 cases have soared to 44 lakhs, Pakistan has 2.99 lakh cases.

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 760 Pakistanis repatriated

India allows 82 Pakistanis stranded due to COVID lockdown to travel home via Wagah border

Pakistan repatriates 748 Indians

On June 19, Pakistan government issued an order allowing repatriation of 748 Indians stranded in Pakistan due to COVID-19 lockdown, allowing them to pass to India via the Wagah border on June 25,26 and 27. The order stated that the Indians will be sent in three batches with the first two comprising of 250 individuals each, while the last batch comprising of 248 individuals. While there were some delays, most listed Indians have crossed over to India.

13.74 lakh Indians have returned from abroad under Vande Bharat Mission: MEA

India's Vande Bharat

On May 7, the Centre launched the Vande Bharat mission to bring back Indians stranded abroad amid Coronavirus global lockdown via aircraft and naval ships in a phased manner. As many as 13.74 lakh Indians have returned from abroad till date the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday. While Kerala welcomed the largest number of Indians, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh followed it.

Phase 6 became operational on September 1 and 1,007 international flights have been scheduled to operate during this month. Of these, 270 international flights have already been operated from GCC countries, Jordan, Afghanistan, Maldives, China, Thailand, US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Australia, said the MEA. Bilateral travel arrangements form the bulk of this phase with travel 'bubble' flight operations from 11 countries. 

Regular international flights have been cancelled till September 30 with the Centre operating flights on case to case basis in a 'bubble' arrangement. Meanwhile, Pakistan has resumed international flight operations at all airports in the country from August 9. The Imran Khan-led government has claimed that it has flattened its COVID-19 curve despite conducting the lowest number of tests.

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