With 3,500 new Covid infections, Pakistan's caseload hits new high

Pakistan reported as many as 3,499 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours—highest since July.

As many as 42,904 tests were conducted across the country and the virus claimed 39 lives in the same period.

The nationwide tally reached 406,810, while the death toll jumped to 8,205.

The number of active cases in the country has now reached 51,654, meanwhile, a total of 346,951 patients have recovered from the virus.

Pakistan is said to launch a Covid-19 vaccination drive in the second quarter of 2021, providing the vaccine to all citizens free of charge, Nausheen Hamid, parliamentary secretary on Health said on Wednesday.

In a tweet and a separate media talk, Hamid said that the federal cabinet had approved initial funds to purchase the vaccine.

“PTI government will provide the coronavirus vaccine free of cost to the people. Government will start the vaccination from the second quarter of 2021,” she tweeted.

PTI government will provide the coronavirus vaccine free of cost to the people.
Government will start the vaccination from the second quarter of 2021. In Shaa Allah @ImranKhanPTI@nhsrcofficial pic.twitter.com/KVALSZVYdH

— Dr. Nausheen (@DrNausheenPTI) December 2, 2020

Hamid told a private TV channel that phase 3 clinical trials of Chinese vaccines were proceeding smoothly and hoped that the vaccines would be ready for the general public soon. She assured that the vaccine would be available in the market, "once its efficacy proved".

About the procurement of the vaccines, she said that the government would consider multiple factors before procuring a vaccine, including the type of vaccine, its efficacy, its safety and side-effects, storage requirements, cost, production capacity of the manufacturer and whether Pakistan had the access to procure it.