Pakistan awaits huge consignment of Covid-19 vaccines amid surge in cases
Apr 11, 2021
Islamabad [Pakistan], April 11 : Amid a significant rise in COVID-19 deaths in Pakistan in the past few days, the country is awaiting a huge consignment of COVID-19 vaccines in the country within the next few weeks.
At a session chaired by Pakistan Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, it was decided to extend the existing non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as markets closure and restrictions on transport till Monday, Dawn reported.
The forum discussed vaccination plan during the upcoming holy month, as participants in the meeting were told that a sufficient quantity of vaccine was scheduled to arrive after the mid of April.
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided that the vaccination centres will remain open during Ramazan, as the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and a number of international scholars had given verdicts in favour of vaccination while fasting.
Despite the low efficacy rate, Pakistan has been approving the emergency use of the Chinese vaccine.
On April 9, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Chinese vaccine, CoronaVac, Geo News reported.
An official of the Pakistan Ministry of National Health Services said Pakistan would also get around three million doses of Cansino Bio, which is a single-dose Chinese vaccine, after mid-April.
Pakistan on Sunday recorded the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in a single day in the current year.
As the third wave of the pandemic surges in Pakistan, the country registered 100 coronavirus deaths. So far, 15,329 people have died due to the infection.
With a positivity rate of 10.96 per cent, Pakistan has reported 5,050 infections in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, the active Covid-19 cases in the country reached 73,875.
