Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) decided to make vaccination against the COVID-19 virus mandatory for its employees. However, Geo New Pakistan is reporting that since a part of the airline‘s workforce refuses to get their dose, the airline is taking more serious measures to prevent its staff from spreading the highly contagious Delta variant, which currently rages in the country.
The national air carrier of Pakistan warned its employees that it will charge unvaccinated staff a fine of around $4 each day, while other employees, including airline officers, would be fined $7 per day, the local media reported.
The air carrier requested staff to get vaccinated against the virus by August 13, 2021, to escape daily fines.
The measure was taken while observing continuously growing rates of COVID-19 infection in Pakistan. According to the National Institute of Health data, half of the daily positive cases in the country are caused by the new strain.
As of August 10, 2021, the country reported 4,856 new virus cases and 81 new deaths per day bringing the total number of infected people to 1,08 million with 24,085 deaths.