NCOC launches special jab drive for transport sector

Centre says only vaccinated individuals, or those with medical exceptions, will be permitted to travel

ISLAMABAD:

The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Friday announced launching a special nationwide vaccination campaign for the transportation sector.

According to the NCOC, which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s anti-Covid-19 strategy, the vaccine is being administered by all federating units under a joint campaign from December 8 to 18.

Under the campaign, inspections will be conducted at entrances and exits of bus stops, toll plazas and interchanges. All types of public and private intercity and intra-city transport will be checked.
Additionally, inspection teams will also be deployed on motorways, national highways and inter-provincial boundaries.

The NCOC emphasised that only vaccinated individuals, or those with medical exceptions, will be permitted to travel. Non-vaccinated transport staff and passengers will be inoculated on the spot via mobile vaccination teams.

The Centre stated that a total of 3,793 inspections were completed on December 8 alone and 46 vehicles impounded and eight people arrested.

On Thursday, Pakistan detected its first 'suspected' case of the Omicron variant in Karachi, according to the provincial health minister.

Read People with health issues or inactivated vaccine should get Covid booster: WHO

Sindh Health Minister Azra Fazal Pechuho said the authorities "suspect the case to be of the Omicron variant due to the virus' behaviour".

"The genome sequencing has not been done as of now, but we suspect it to be the Omicron variant due to the manner in which the virus is behaving".
She added that the suspected Omicron-affected patient is a 57-year old woman from the provincial capital.

According to the government's official Covid-19 portal, the country recorded a total of 313 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24 hours, whereas nine more fatalities were also registered.
It added that 648 people recovered from the virus in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 1,250,069.

Pakistan's recovery rate from the coronavirus stands at 97%.

There are less than 10,000 active patients, of whom 758 are in critical condition.

Sindh has reported 255 coronavirus cases and one death during the last 24 hours, according to a handout issued by the Chief Minister's Office.

During this period, 17,291 samples were tested. The total number of cases has risen to 476,636 and the death toll is 7,634.

Meanwhile, 3,736 people across the province are currently recovering from the disease.
Another 65 cases of Covid-19 have been detected in Punjab in the last 24 hours, taking the province's total to 443,747.

Two more people have succumbed to the virus in the province.

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has reported 50 new coronavirus infections, as well as, five more deaths in the last 24 hours.

The number of cases in the province stands at 180,564 while its total fatalities have reached 5,879.

Balochistan recorded three more cases and one more fatality. The province's tally of infections stands at 33,522 and deaths at 363.

Islamabad has reported 20 new cases, Gilgit-Baltistan three and Azad Jammu and Kashmir five in the last 24 hours.

No additional deaths have been reported in any of the federal territories.