There are several people who travelled to other countries for vacations, business meetings or for other reasons before the lockdown was implemented. The restrictions were not imposed till March as the outbreak had only reached certain countries.

As the cases increased around the world, countries such as China and the United States of America enforced a ban on travelling. Following it, other countries, such as India and Pakistan had to abruptly close their boarders as well, leaving thousands of people stranded.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused issues for entire world. People have been stuck in other countries for over a month. Higher authorities of every country are working towards bringing the stranded nationals of their respective countries back home. Though the process is slow since the flights are limited.

One of the citizens of Pakistan, Mujtaba Nadeem was on a business trip to Malaysia, along with his brother when the lockdown was announced. On their way back to Pakistan, the civil aviation authority informed them about suspension of all the flights for an indefinite period of
time by the government.

Nadeem said: “We were stranded in this foreign country with limited funds and no contact with the Pakistani authority. I had no choice but to contact my old friend, who was kind and generous to offer me and my brother to stay with him until the lockdown eases.”

Upon asking him more about his time in Malaysia, Nadeem tells us that initially there was a high alert restriction on movement throughout the country, as people were only allowed to step out for emergency and urgent purposes.

Since, past week the government ease down the lockdown and few businesses have reopened, however for a limited working hour. Nadeem and his brother have spent his quarantine time mostly indoors. “I have binge watched several shows on Netflix and Amazon Prime.” Along with several other stranded people, they are waiting for authorities to allow them to take the flight back home.

As Pakistan is allowing other countries to send their nationals back home, Nadeem further talks about how the procedure has not been simple.

By Warshma Chughtai

Image Source: Markus Spiske on Unsplash