Capital reports 40 fresh Covid infections

Dr Faisal Sultan says national infection rate continues to drop

ISLAMABAD:

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday said that only 40 new cases of coronavirus were reported from the federal capital during the last 24 hours.

According to an official, as many as 34 cases were reported on Sunday while 64 cases were reported on Saturday.

He said so far 82,139 cases while 772 deaths were reported from the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), adding that 79,710 patients had recovered from the contagion so far.

Meanwhile, during a surprise visit to Shah Allah Ditta Community Health Centre, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Faisal Sultan said that the national Covid positivity ratio continued to fall steadily.

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This is evidence that the government's lockdown and enforcement of standard operating procedures (SOPs) along with greater vaccine uptake and administration has had an impact on the spread of the disease,” he stated.

Dr Sultan said that the government was regularly monitoring compliance across all sectors in all federating units, adding that the NCOC is deeply concerned and has alerted all industries that compliance is not up to the mark.

SAPM said that the vaccination drive was continuing in full swing. “We have administered more vaccine doses than countries such as Australia, Switzerland, Portugal, and Belgium as daily administration had ranged from 300,000 to 400,000,” he added.

Dr Sultan maintained that walk-in vaccination was opened for above 30 years, therefore, all 30 plus people should send their CNIC to 1166 to register and visit any vaccination centre to get vaccinated. He added that the registration for people aged 18 years and above was opened as well and scheduled vaccine administration began from June 3. He said that walk-in vaccination had also been opened across the country for all teachers and school staff above 18 years of age on May 29.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^h, 2021.