Pakistan has enforced a two-week ban on travellers from India through air and land routes, citing the spread of a new variant of the novel coronavirus in its neighboring country, Dawn reported.

A statement from Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said the the decision was taken during a meeting of the forum on Monday.

Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar presided over the meeting, which discussed the spread of the new double-mutant variant that is being regarded as the cause for the recent spike in Covid 19 infections in India.

"The forum decided to place India in the list of Category C countries for two weeks. There will be a ban on inbound passengers coming from India via air and land route," the statement said.

The forum will carry out a review of countries placed in Category C on April 21 in view of the presence of the Indian variant in other countries, the statement added.

Other countries included in Category C are South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Comoros, Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Eswatini, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, Seychelles, Somalia, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Earlier this month, Pakisan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) revised and extended the entry restrictions, temporary ban and the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all inbound travellers, chartered and private aircraft flights till April 20