7,000 to receive vaccines in ICT daily

Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiative Asad Umar inaugurated a mass vaccination centre at F-9 Park in the federal capital that will vaccinate 7,000 citizens against Covid-19 on a daily basis through 75 counters.

Talking to the media on Wednesday, he said that 100 trained vaccinators will remain on duties and standard services will be provided to the citizens at the centre. He stressed that it is the responsibility of every eligible citizen to visit the vaccination center and protect them against Coronavirus.

"We want to end all restrictions as early as possible including the opening of educational institutions and markets but it depends on meeting the target of the maximum number of vaccination in the country," he added.

The minister said that despite the number of positive cases, Pakistan is still in a better condition in the region. He appreciated the role played by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) team, and the police for playing an effective role in controlling the spread of the virus.

Umar said that we still need to continue all such measures as 4,500 patients are on oxygen across the country. He mentioned that a massive awareness drive has been started with the support of traders’ and markets’ organisations as well as the ulema. He added that the youth in Islamabad have also been engaged in this campaign to educate citizens about the importance of vaccination.

He assured that the provision of vaccines to every city of the country is the responsibility of the federal government and assured that there is no shortage of vaccines, adding that so far good results were achieved from the vaccination.

The minister also stated that decisions regarding reopening of marriage halls, educational institutions and business centres will be issued soon.

Meanwhile, two Covid-infected patients died in Islamabad in the past 24 hours, taking the tally of total virus-related deaths to 735. The official figures reported that about 79,552 residents of the federal capital have been infected by the contagion of which 70,697 have fully recovered.

As of now, there are 8,120 active coronavirus cases in Islamabad as 181 new cases were recorded during on Wednesday, a District Health Authority (DHA) official stated. During the same period, about 353 people tested negative for the virus.

Four people also died of coronavirus in Rawalpindi over the past 24 hours. There are 107 patients under treatment in three separate hospitals of Rawalpindi and 95 of them are on oxygen and seven on ventilators.

The district health department advised the citizens to get vaccinated. About 212,027 people have been inoculated so far in the district while the positivity rate has dropped to 5.55 per cent. Some 19,291 citizens and 946 frontline healthcare workers are among those who have received the anti-Covid jabs.

Meanwhile, an additional 117 positive cases were reported during the last 24 hours, raising the tally of confirmed cases to 25,544 in the district. The total infected cases included 23,595 from Rawalpindi and 1,949 from other districts.

DHA informed that among the new cases, 40 were reported from Rawal Town, 19 from Potohar, 31 from Rawalpindi Cantt, seven from Taxila, four from Murree, three from Gujar Khan, three from Kahuta, two from Kotli Sattian and one each from Chakwal, Gujranwala and Jehlum.

Presently, 96 confirmed patients were admitted to various facilities with 12 at Holy Family Hospital, 15 at Benazir Bhutto Hospital, 45 at Institute of Urology, 22 at Fauji Foundation Hospital and one each at Hearts International and Akhtar Rukhsana Memorial Hospital, the health authority report mentioned.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2021.