ISLAMABAD: Planning Minister Asad Umar has on Sunday urged people to strictly follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and get vaccinated at the earliest to contain the spread of the Indian variant of COVID-19.
Addressing a news conference along with Special Assistant on National Health Services Dr. Faisal Sultan in Islamabad, he said the Indian variant spreads very fast. He said the government is arranging vaccines to protect the people from the coronavirus.
Umar said the government has been strong to combat the previous waves of coronavirus and now we will be able to protect our people from the current wave and without affecting their employment.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Faisal Sultan said the fourth wave of the coronavirus has put pressure on the health system of Karachi, Abbottabad and Islamabad.
He said now the positivity ratio has surged to 8.8% in the country. He said the number of cases is also growing on a daily basis due to the fourth wave of coronavirus.
He urged the general public to follow the precautionary measures against the pandemic. He said vaccination is of vital importance as it reduces the risk of coronavirus.
Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has on Sunday said that Pakistan has crossed 30 million vaccinations against COVID-19.
In his tweet on Sunday, Asad Umar said that Pakistan has set another record after 10 million people received vaccinations within 16 days.
The NCOC Chief further said that the country having a population of 220 million has inoculated 30 million people with the last 10 million being vaccinated in a record 16 days.
“The first crore [10 milllion] took 113 days. The second 28 days and the 3rd only 16 days,” he said adding that the pace has quickly increased.
He further shared that the last six days have broken records of vaccination with each passing day observing a rise in numbers and added that 934,000 people received COVID jabs during the last 24 hours.
Five million vaccinations were done in the last six days, Umar added.
On the other hand, the fourth wave of Covid-19 pandemic has continued its upward trajectory, with Pakistan reporting 5,029 cases over the past 24 hours — the highest number of daily cases in the country since April 29.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the body responsible for the country’s Covid-19 response, the new cases were detected against 56,965 tests and took the overall national tally to 1,034,837.
The positivity rate of the daily cases was recorded at 8.8 per cent — up from 8.46pc the previous day.
Meanwhile, 62 more coronavirus-related fatalities raised the country’s death toll from the disease to 23,422.
