Vaccination expedited amid 4th wave surge

Covid-19 positivity ratio reaches 14% in the province

PESHAWAR:

Around 83,928 people received Covid-19 vaccination in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) in the last 24 hours.

According to a report of the Health Department, a total of 4,617 people received first shot of Sinopharam vaccine in the province. This has pushed up the number of people who received first shot to 654,519. A total of 275,623 people have received two shots of this vaccine so far.

CanSino vaccine has been administered to 3,958 people during this time, pushing its total number of inoculated people with this vaccine to 188,467.

According to the report, Sinovac has been administrated to 52,712 people. Another 17,896 people have got second dose of this vaccine thus pushing up the total number of vaccinated people with Sinovac to 1,872,847. So far only four people have been vaccinated with Astrazenca vaccine during this time with first dose and two received second dose. The total number of people vaccinated with Astrazenca stands at 541.

By the same token, Pakvac vaccine was received by 42,347 in total and in the last 24 hours 335 people received their first jabs. Only 123 people have received two doses of the Pfizer vaccine so far in the K-P and 66 more people received it yesterday. These people are overseas Pakistanis who were going to travel abroad.

The new Moderna vaccine has been administered to 90,997 people while yesterday it was received by 2,197 people too.

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On the other hand, all the Members Provincial Assembly and government officials have been directed by the government to keep their Eid as simple as possible and strictly observe the Covid-19 related Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) during Eid holidays and during public gatherings.

“There is a serious threat of a fourth waves of the Covid-19 in the country in general and K-P province in particular and that is why all the MPAs and government Secretaries have been asked to avoid meeting public and gathering at their hujras on the occasion of Eid as a precautionary measure,” said an official of the government while talking to the Express Tribune, adding that the highly dangerous Delta variant which was fist detected in India has also been found in K-P along with other UK and South African variants and these variants pose a serious threat.

“The fourth wave will not be like the previous three waves in which mostly elderly people lost their lives. This could result in hundreds of deaths if precautions are not taken,” he said, adding that the Health Department has already imposed a ban on the posting and transfer of the health workers including Doctors, Nurses and Paramedics due to this.

On Tuesday another alarming situation was recorded when the Covid-19 positivity ratio reached 14 per cent in the province from the previous two per cent.

Officials said that Kohat district was on the top with 18 per cent, followed by Nowshera with 17 per cent and Peshawar with 11 per cent. In Mardan it was also recorded at 11 percent. In Abbotabad it was recorded at seven per cent. Luckily, in other 28 district this ratio is zero.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21^st, 2021.