One million Sinopharm vaccines distributed to federating units, NCOC told

NCOC meeting expresses concerns over non-adherence to Covid SOPs; positivity cases in children

ISLAMABAD:

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday expressed concerns over non-adherence to Covid-19 SOPs by the masses.

"The forum expressed concerns over non-implementation of NCOC instructions on adherence to SOPs on wearing of masks, social distancing and commercial timings," read the statement.

The NCOCsession headed by its chairman Asad Umar and co-chaired by National Coordinator Lieutenant General Hamood-Uz-Zaman Khan was held in Islamabad.

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The forum expressed satisfaction over the procurement process of vaccines and its subsequent rollout process to federating units.

It was observed that one million Sinopharm vaccines purchased by Pakistan have been received and distributed amongst all federating units.

The communique added that the provinces [are] to ensure that vaccination targets set by the authority are vigorously pursued.

It was also decided that senior citizens of ages over 65 years can walk into the designated vaccination centres to receive doses through an on-spot registration facility.

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The forum took stock of the reported surge of positivity cases in children. It was found that there was no major deviation in the positivity ratio in children as compared to statistics of the previous waves.

Pakistan recorded 5,234 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, taking the country's tally to 678,165, while the death toll climbed to 14,613 after 83 people succumbed to the deadly disease. Most deaths occurred in Punjab, followed by K-P.

Meanwhile, 1,931 patients recovered from the disease in a day, taking the total recoveries to 607,205. The total active cases across the country were reported to be 56,347.