The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Saturday banned theserving of meals on domestic flights in line with the directives ofNational Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to curb thespread of Omicron variant of coronavirus in the country. “Amid rising Omicron cases across the country, the NCOC bans servingmeals/snacks onboard domestic flights and public transport effective fromJanuary 17,” the aviation authority said in a tweet. Pakistan has reported four Covid-19 related deaths and 4,286 positive casesrecorded in the last 24 hours. According to NCOC’s statistics, 52,522 tests were conducted and positivityratio remained 8.16 per cent. A week ago, Planning Minister Asad Umar warned the Omicron variant wasspreading rapidly in Pakistan and feared that it would spread even morequickly in days to come. Umar, also the NCOC chief, told a media briefing that vaccination andfollowing the Covid-induced standard operating procedures were the onlyway to avoid the spread of the new variant.In March last year, the CAA imposed a ban on serving drinking water topassengers on domestic flights in view of the surge in Covid-19 cases. It had cited the third wave of the pandemic as the reason for the restriction,saying the passengers will be provided with disposable water bottles.