The accused also allegedly took bribes from people in quarantine
Intelligence agencies are keeping a close eye on airport officials posted at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.
They are also monitoring passengers arriving from abroad following the coronavirus outbreak.
Intelligence agencies have decided to take such measures after it was reported that airport officials were extorting money from passengers in exchange for allowing them to leave the airport without being screened.
It has been alleged that health officials at the airport intimidated passengers and threatened to keep them in quarantine.
Health officials allegedly forced passengers to hand over money in order to be allowed to leave the airport.
It has been claimed that after paying the officials, passengers were allowed to leave the airport without being screened for coronavirus.
The accused also allegedly took bribes from people in quarantine in exchange for permitting them to leave the airport.
Intelligence agencies have directed the airport officials to ensure that passengers arriving from abroad are allowed to leave the airport only after they pass through a thermal scanner and are cleared of the virus.
They have also been told to carry out proper screening of all the passengers.
Those suspected to have coronavirus are to be quarantined.
The health officials are employees of the federal and provincial government and not the Civil Aviation Authority.
Not only has the coronavirus caused major health worries but it has also resulted in an economic downturn.
This applies to Pakistan as a report stated that the Asian Development Bank has projected that the country’s economy may face between $16 and $61 million in losses.
However, the report gave a “hypothetical worst-case scenario” that shows Pakistan’s economy sustaining a $5 billion loss due to the spread of the virus.
In this case, Pakistan’s GDP will decline by 1.57% and 946,000 people will be unemployed.
The report showed that the global GDP will also be affected from $77 billion in the best-case scenario to $347 billion in the worst-case scenario, with China affected the most.
In a one-page paper issued by Tola Associate – tax and corporate advisors – it was also claimed that Pakistan’s economy will sustain $5 billion loss due to the coronavirus. The firm based its claim on an ADB publication.
According to the estimates published by the ADB the impact of the coronavirus, in terms of the global GDP ranges from $77 billion in best case scenario to $347 billion in the worst-case scenario or 0.1% to 0.4% of the global GDP.
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