ISLAMABAD            -          Prime Minister Imran Khan on Mon­day called upon World Health Or­ganization (WHO) to play its role in engaging member states to remove COVID-19 related travel restrictions for Pakistan and other developing countries.

Talking to Director General WHO Dr. Tedros Adhanom via video con­ference, the Prime Minister also stressed the need to work towards a data driven system of non-discrimi­natory travel rules.

The Prime Minister said that travel restrictions imposed by developed countries in the wake of COVID-19 could further exacerbate economic difficulties of the developing coun­tries struggling to mitigate adverse economic impact of the pandemic.

He highlighted Pakistan’s strate­gy of deploying scientific and data driven interventions as well as rap­id upgrades of health care facilities while attempting to maintain a bal­ance between life and livelihood that has yielded positive results with a current downward trajectory in the spread of pandemic.

While noting progress made by Pakistan in containing the spread of virus, Director General WHO ap­preciated the steps taken by the gov­ernment of Pakistan in fighting the pandemic.

The Prime Minister appreciated the support extended by WHO to the international community including Pakistan to fight COVID-19.