Pakistan reports less than 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 in a day

Islamabad: Pakistan on Tuesday reported 1,771 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the lowest number of single day infections in the past three weeks.

Pakistan’s COVID-19 positivity rate has also dropped to the lowest figure, 3.71 per cent, since March 3 as the virus cases continue to decline in the country.

According to the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC), Pakistan’s total number of cases after the latest additions climbed to 922,824 while 71 deaths in the last 24 hours took the death toll to 20,850 in the country.

7.64 million doses administered so far

Pakistan has, meanwhile, accelerated the vaccination drive in the country and according to the NCOC, so far, more than 7.648 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, mostly Sinopharm and Sinovac, have been administered to all the eligible age groups across the country.

During the past 24 hours alone, 311,294 persons were administered the coronavirus jabs, it further said.

Government hopes Eid Al Adha will not be celebrated under restrictions

The head of the NCOC and the Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiative Asad Umar in a media briefing after the NCOC meeting said the government was going to launch a major campaign to make sure the coronavirus vaccine reached the entire population.

We hope to vaccinate a sufficient number of people by the time of Eid Al-Adha next month, so that the occasion could be celebrated differently and without any restrictions as we experienced during the Eid Al Fitr, said Asad Umar.

The federal minister for planning said that the restrictions introduced by the government before Eid had paid dividends as the positivity rate was declining.

He explained that the restrictions were a “defensive action” and affected the livelihood of the people, adding that the only way out of the current situation was to get vaccinated.

70 million to be vaccinated by year’s end

Asad Umar said the vaccination drive in the entire country was going on a fast-footing, and if it continued with the same speed, the government would be able to vaccinate 70 million people by the end of the current year.

We are procuring 10 million vaccines in June and an equal number in July so that the vaccine supply might not be affected, he said.

We don’t want to impose the same restrictions during Eid Al Adha that we did during the Eid Al Fitr, said Asad Umar.

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