NCOC moves to help Sindh contain Covid spread

Health officials discuss ways to strengthen NPIs

ISLAMABAD:

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) rushed to contact the Sindh Health Department to formulate a strategy at the provincial level to control the spread of Covid-19 in the province, a statement issued here on Tuesday said.

It said that the NCOC team arranged meetings with the Sindh Health Department on the directives of Health Minister Qadir Patel. They discussed ways to increase testing, contact tracing and implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs).

The country has seen a spurt in Covid cases in recent days. Since the beginning of the week, nationwide positivity ratio has risen to more than 2% for the first time since March. According to official data, the positivity ratio during the last 24 hours was 2.42%.

The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination has issued interim guidelines to address the need for booster shots. According to them, the first booster dose will be for people 18 years of age and above, while the booster jab will also be necessary for healthcare workers and passengers.

The guidelines recommend that the first booster dose be given six months after both doses of Covid. “Patients who have recovered from a Covid-19 infection should receive a booster dose 28 days later.”

The guidelines recommend that a second booster dose be given four months after the first one.

Read Omicron sub-lineages can dodge immunity from past infection: study

On Monday, the NCOC made mask-wearing mandatory on all domestic flights, railways, and public transport within the country. It directed all provinces and regions to administer booster vaccine dose on a priority basis to further improve protection against Covid-19 transmission.

Dubbed the sixth wave since its outbreak in the country in February 2020, the pandemic is seen spreading in many parts of the country, particularly in Sindh, where the positivity ratio had crossed 6%. Karachi has emerged as the disease’s new hotspot.

Covid is also spreading worldwide. The latest spurt is attributed to the new variants of the novel coronavirus, especially the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of African-origin Omicron – the variant that fuelled the fifth wave of Covid in Pakistan in early 2022.

US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday the fast-spreading BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of Omicron were estimated to make up a combined 52% of the coronavirus cases in the United States as of June 25.

The two sublineages accounted for more than a third of US cases for the week of June 18. They were added to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) monitoring list in March and designated as variants of concern by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Several vaccine makers including Pfizer Inc, Moderna Inc and Novavax Inc are testing versions of their Covid vaccines updated to combat the Omicron variant. Pfizer and Moderna have said their new vaccines also appear to work against the subvariants.

(WITH INPUT FROM AGENCIES)