Decision to keep Pakistan on 'red list' based on 'risk assessment', says UK authorities on 'discrimination allegations'

After a Pakistan Minister lambasted UK's decision to keeps Pakistan on its 'red list', the UK Department of Health and Social Care said that its decision was made on the basis of an assessment of the risk to public health.

The statement from UK authorities came after Pakistan's Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari accused the country of playing discriminatory politics against Islamabad following UK's recent decision to move India to the 'amber list' while keeping a ban on flights from Pakistan.

Pakistan has not been removed from the list "due to the condition of a deteriorating epidemiological situation, combined with low testing rates and limited genomic surveillance," Department of Health and Social Care said in the statement.

The current trajectory of the pandemic in Pakistan is also of particular concern, in past seven days, the incidence of cases in the country has increased by 87 per cent on the previous week while the incidence of deaths have also increased by 75 per cent.

Major cities like Karachi have reported positivity rates of up to 20 per cent, the statement added.

( With inputs from ANI )