Prime Minister Imran Khan has summoned a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Covid-19 on Friday (today), wherein some tough decisions are likely to be made amid steep surge in coronavirus cases in the country.
The prime minister summoned the NCC on Covid-19 after holding a meeting with Minister for Planning Asad Umar and his Special Assistant on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, who briefed him in detail about the situation of coronavirus in the country.
The national tally of total active Covid-19 cases was recorded at 84,935 as 5,857 more people tested positive for the deadly virus on Thursday. Ninety-eight patients died on Thursday, 91 of whom were under treatment in hospitals and seven in their respective quarantines or homes, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). Most of the deaths occurred in Punjab, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Out of the total 98 deaths, 28 were under treatment on ventilators.
The maximum ventilators are occupied in four major areas including Multan 85 percent, Mardan 100 percent, Gujranwala 88 percent and Lahore 82 percent. The maximum oxygen beds are occupied in four major areas of Nowshera 67 percent, Gujranwala 85 percent, Peshawar 74 percent and Swabi 67 percent. Around 559 ventilators are occupied elsewhere in the country while no Covid-affected person is on ventilator in Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and Balochistan.
Some 57,591 tests were conducted across the country on Wednesday, including 12,881 in Sindh, 28,829 in Punjab, 8,007 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 5,344 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 1,096 in Balochistan, 348 in GB, and 1,086 in AJK.
Around 676,605 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan making it a significant count with over 90 percent recovery ratio of the affected patients.
Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 778,238 cases were detected that also included the perished, recovered and under treatment COVID-19 patients so far, including AJK 16,026, Balochistan 21,242, GB 5,215, ICT 71,533, KP 109,704, Punjab 279,437 and Sindh 275,081. About 16,698 deaths were recorded in country since the eruption of the contagion.
A total of 11,377,423 tests have been conducted so far, while 633 hospitals are equipped with Covid facilities. Some 5,450 corona patients were admitted in hospitals across the country.
The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination on Thursday continued the vaccination of senior citizens of age 50 to 59 years across the country as per procedure being adopted for other age groups. According to an official of the ministry, for registration, citizens of this age group should send SMS with computerized national identity card number to 1166 from any mobile number or visit the website of the National Immunization Management System (NIMS) which is nims.nadra.gov.pk He said that the vaccine centre and date will be communicated through SMS as per schedule while citizens can get complete information about the vaccination process while using NIMS’s website with having facility of registration for vaccination also.
He said that foreign nationals can register for the COVID-19 vaccination programme on the provision of a passport number along with a valid mobile number to check whether the information is available on NIMS website for registration for vaccination.
He said that there was a walk-in facility for senior citizens of above 65 years at the nearest vaccination centre to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Citizens of this age group can send their CNIC number through mobile number to 1166 to get registered, he added.
