NCOC reviews Covid-19 vaccine strategy, efforts for early availability

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday reviewed the National Vaccine Strategy and efforts made to ensure early availability of the vaccine.

The meeting was informed about the negotiations being made with the international vaccine manufacturers in order to ensure early availability of the vaccine.

The forum was briefed about vaccine administration, immunisation plans and staff training.

Meanwhile, the Expanded Progamme on Immunisation (EPI) representatives were also directed to designate focal points at district and tehsil levels for grassroots penetration of the progamme.

The forum noted that the training of staff should be spearheaded for a positive outcome of the immunisation programme.

Health experts highlighted the increase of Pakistan's Covid-19 positivity ratio and deaths due to the deadly virus.

The forum noted that non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) - alternative measures to treat the virus besides medical treatment - should be ensured at all levels for mitigating the spread of the virus.

The meeting was informed that in the last 24 hours, Punjab reported the highest number of deaths, followed by Sindh.

The highest number of ventilators occupied in the country was found to be in Multan with 49 per cent occupancy, followed by Islamabad at 40 per cent, Peshawar and Lahore at 32 per cent.

Meanwhile, the highest number of oxygen bed occupancy in the country was in Peshawar, at 64 per cent, Multan 40 per cent, Islamabad 33 per cent and Rawalpindi 31 per cent.

The total number of active cases in the country stands at 39,599. At least 30,666 tests were carried out in the last 24 hours, of which 12,574 were conducted in Punjab, followed by 9,320 in Sindh, 3,840 in Islamabad, 4,219 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), 249 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), 219 in Balochistan and 245 in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).