As the number of Covid cases in the country begin to rise again, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has decided to expedite testing and vaccination.
After a two and a half month respite, nearly 200 new Covid cases have been reported in the country. The number of daily Covid tests in the country had dropped by five in the last month alone.
Owing to these developments, leadership from the federal and provincial government met at the NCOC in Islamabad to devise and preemptive strategy to deal with with the rising cases.
It was decided that the vaccination campaign will be expedited and more testing will be made available to the public.
The NCOC meeting was chaired by Federal Minister of National Health Services (NHS) Abdul Qadir Patel. Also in attendance were representatives from the Ministry of Interior, the National Disaster Management Authority, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan and the local administration, while provincial representatives participated virtually.
The meeting revealed that 85% and 93% of the eligible population was fully and partially vaccinated respectively. In Sindh, 100% of the eligible population was fully vaccinated.
The minister advised all provinces and regions to administer booster doses on a priority basis to lower chances of Covid transmission.
He said that while the national positivity rate was below 2%, which he attributed to the commendable work done by healthcare professionals, the need to be vigilant and careful was still there.
Data released by the NCOC shows that 204 new infections were reported. While Karachi reported 15.44pc positivity, cities which reported over 2pc positivity included Muzaffarabad, Quetta, Islamabad, Mardan, Nowshera and Lahore.
