Pakistan has banned domestic air travel for unvaccinated people as Covid-19 cases crossed the 1- million-mark on Sunday, according to officials.

The travel restriction, imposed by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), will be applicable from August 1 on unvaccinated people above 18.

“Restriction is for domestic air travel, and people travelling from Pakistan to abroad or from abroad to Pakistan are exempted from restriction. It is also not applicable on link flights if these are within 72 hours of arrival or departure,” according to an NCOC document.

Partially vaccinated people, foreign nationals, Pakistani nationals having documentary proof of vaccination abroad and patients with clinical conditions will be exempted from the restriction, it said.

The ministry of national health services said 45 people died of Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 23,016. It said 2,819 new cases were reported, taking the national tally to 10,04,694.

The positivity rate has reached 6.32 per cent, which is the highest during the fourth wave of the pandemic that hit the country early this month.