More than 500,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses administered on July 12: Umar

Chairman National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar on Tuesday said the country, for the first time, administered more than half a million Covid-19 vaccine jabs in a single day on July 12.

"For the first time we crossed half a million doses of vaccination yesterday. 5 lakh 25 thousand doses were administered yesterday," Umar said on Twitter.

"Highest ever first dose was also achieved yesterday with 3 lakh 90 thousand first doses administered".

Umar expressed hope that the pace will increase in the coming days. 

Last week, the minister said 20.6pc of people above the age of 50 in Pakistan have been administered at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose.

He elaborated that there are 20.7 million people in the country who are 50 years of age or older, and out of those, 5.6 million people have received the first anti-covid jab.

Umar urged people to encourage those in the age group to vaccinate as soon as possible as this "age group is most vulnerable to serious health effects of Covid".

Read: Govt weighs fresh curbs to stem 4th Covid wave

On the same day, the national Covid positivity ratio rose to 4.09 per cent with the federal government announcing strict measures against violators of standard operating procedures (SOPs) in the wake of the Delta variant fuelling the fourth wave of the virus across the country.

On June 9, the NCOC chief said that there were clear signs of a fourth wave of Covid-19 starting in the country, primarily due to poor compliance to SOPs and arrival of the Indian variant.

"2 weeks back I had tweeted that our artificial intelligence models are showing possible emergence of 4th wave. Now there are clear early signs of 4th wave starting," said Umar.

"Poor SOP compliance, coupled with spread of variants of concern, Indian variant in particular, are the main cause," he added.

He further stated that reports showed a complete disregard for vaccinations by those attending indoor weddings and going to indoor restaurants and gyms.

The NCOC chief warned that, "If the owners of these facilities do not show responsibility & ensure compliance, there will be no choice but to shut them down."