National positivity ratio jumps to 3.79%

Punjab to observe SOPs implementation week before Eid

ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE:

The national Covid-19 positivity ratio has jumped to 3.79% a few days after the government allayed its concerns that the Delta variant has started to spread in the country.

The Punjab government will observe a week for the implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and vaccination till July 18 in wake of Eidul Azha by following guidelines of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The decision was taken in a meeting chaired by provincial Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid and the chief secretary here on Saturday. The Home Department has set up a provincial control room for monitoring.
The meeting passed directions to the administration and the police officers to form teams to check SOPs’ violation at markets, parks, restaurants, wedding halls, and other public places.

Dr Yasmeen said that the purpose of observing the week was to contain the spread of the virus on Eid.
The minister stressed that precautionary measures as well as vaccination were essential to ward off the coronavirus disease. Dr Yasmeen urged the people to make it a habit to wear masks and maintain social distancing.

In the meeting, the chief secretary, while expressing displeasure over low vaccination in some districts, said that the coronavirus vaccination campaign was a national cause and negligence in this regard would not be tolerated at all.

Meanwhile, Punjab Healthcare Department Secretary Sarah Aslam said in a statement that the provincial government had decided to establish a control room to monitor the implementation of the SOPs at restaurants, wedding halls, cinemas and hotels.

Sarah said in the statement that new SOPs were being introduced in view of the recent uptick in Covid-19 cases countrywide. The new guideless were being adopted in line with the directives of the NCOC issued a day ago, she added. “Those violating the SOPs will face action,” she warned.

Under the new directives, Sarah said that no restaurant would be allowed to operate dine-in facility after 11.59pm, while only 50% occupancy would be permitted at all eateries. Similarly, no more than 200 guests would be allowed at wedding halls.

The NCOC had confirmed the presence of different variants of coronavirus in Pakistan, including the Delta variant, which was first discovered in India.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had warned the nation this week that the Indian variant would fuel a fourth wave of the contagious disease.

Also on Friday, the NCOC announced a slew of measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus which include mandatory vaccination from August 1 for anyone who intend to air travel and stringent action in cases of the violation of the SOPs.

The NCOC, which supervises the government’s unified strategy to stem the spread of the pandemic, also expedited vaccination process. For that purpose, the government is procuring vaccine doses from various sources, including the COVAX facility of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Most of the vaccine arrivals this month were from the country’s trusted ally, China, which has already delivered millions of doses of Sinopharm, CanSinoBio and Sinovac vaccines. Besides, the country has also received three batches of Pfizer, AstraZenaca and Moderna vaccines.

The first batch, Pakistan received through COVAX comprised AstraZeneca vaccine. Later, the second batch, consisting of 106,000 Pfizer vaccine doses reached the country. Recently, 2.5 million Moderna vaccine arrived in the country, donated by the United States under the COVAX facility.

According to health officials, the government expected another batch of 1.236 million doses of AstraZenaca vaccine next week. So far, the health ministry officials said a total of 29 million doses of different vaccines had been delivered to Pakistan.

On Saturday, the NCOC said in its daily update of the disease that during the past 24 hours, active Covid-19 cases jumped to 36,454, including 2,049 patients in critical condition.

The NCOC said 1,828 more people tested positive for the virus and 912 people recovered from the disease during the past 24 hours. In that period, it added, 78 infected persons were admitted to various Covid-dedicated hospitals in critical condition.

The bulletin said that 35 patients, of them 33 in hospitals, including 19 on ventilators, died during the last 24 hours, raising the nationwide death toll from the infectious disease to 22,555. It added that most of the deaths, 17, occurred in Sindh, followed by 10 in Punjab.

The national caseload of the disease since it broke out in February 2020 rose to 971,304, including 912,295 people making full recovery. A total of 15,008,355 coronavirus tests had been conducted so far, the NCOC added.