NCOC praises Punjab govt for 'leading' Covid-19 vaccination drive

ISLAMABAD: National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) Chairman Asad Umar, Thursday, while appreciating the government of Punjab for leading the Covid-19 vaccination drive among all the federating units has said that 48 percent of the population has received at least one Covid-19 jab.

Umar stated this, while taking to Twitter and said that more than half of Punjab's eligible population has received at least one jab of the coronavirus vaccine. "Punjab becomes the first province to have more than half of its eligible population with at least one coronavirus dose and at least 52 percent population of the province has got the first dose," he tweeted.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), the minister revealed that 48 percent eligible population has received at least one dose of Covid-19. He maintained that Sindh's 40 percent and Balochistan's 17 percent population have partially been vaccinated so far.

"Federal territories leading in vaccination with Islamabad 87 percent, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) 59 percent and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) with 54 percent," he added. Over all, Pakistan's 48 percent of eligible population has received first vaccine dose, the minister said.

Earlier, a meeting of the NCOC was attended by the NCOC National Coordinator Major General Zafar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, and the National Disaster Management Authority chairman.

During the meeting, the forum was briefed about the progress of the nationwide vaccine administration, with a particular emphasis on the obligatory vaccination regime, and a comprehensive future vaccine strategy was presented before the forum. As many as 108 million Pakistanis have so far been vaccinated, the meeting was apprised.

Meanwhile, the NCOC appreciated all the federating units to reach out to the population and facilitate necessary vaccine administration. It also expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) as well as the national immunisation management system.

Moreover, the forum appreciated the pandemic control mechanism in various sectors, particularly, in terms of the implementation of the NPIs in mosques and the role of ulema in ensuring communication on immunisation. The NCOC, on Thursday, reported 580 fresh Covid-19 cases and 19 coronavirus deaths, following which, the national tally of Covid-19 cases has reached 1,275,158 and death toll 28,496, since the pandemic outbreak.

The national Covid positivity ratio was recorded at 1.32 percent, as out of 43,901 tests conducted across the country, only 580 returned positive. Over the past 24 hours, some 554 Covid-19 patients recovered, taking the countrywide recoveries to 1,224,085. There are 22,577 active coronavirus cases in the country, of which, 1,309 are admitted in the hospitals.

Out of the 19 coronavirus deaths reported in the past 24 hours, 18 were under treatment in various hospitals and one died at home quarantines or homes.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021