Daily Times

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has developed National Immunization Management System (NIMS) to ensure efficient supply chain management and administration of Covid-19 vaccine in the country.

The initiative had been taken in collaboration with Ministry of Health, National Database Registration Authority (NADRA) and National Information Technology Board (NITB), it was told in an NCOC meeting held here on Wednesday. The forum further said that the government was in close liaison with leading Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers for its early availability in the country. The NIMS would enable automated phase-wise registration of citizens for Covid-19 vaccine through SMS/internet portals, based on CNIC numbers, it added. The immunization mechanism would be intimated to citizens shortly. “The NIMS will be made available by mid-January,” the forum informed.

The chief of the NCOC said that he has authorised the procurement of more than one million vaccines. Asad Umar, in his statement on Twitter, said that the number “will cover all frontline health workers”. He said what remains now is for DRAP (Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan) to approve a vaccine. Umar said that the government aims to deploy the vaccines within the first quarter of 2021.

The national tally of total active Covid-19 cases in Pakistan on Wednesday reached 37,080 with 2,155 more people tested positive for the deadly virus during the last 24 hours. Fifty-five patients, 46 of whom were under treatment in hospitals and nine in their respective homes or quarantines, died, according to the latest update issued by the NCOC. During the last 24 hours, most of the deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Sindh as out of total 55 deaths, 26 patients died on ventilators. No Covid-affected person was on ventilator in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) while 299 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in Pakistan. The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major areas including Multan 44 percent, ICT 41 percent, Peshawar 30 percent and Lahore 32 percent.

The national Covid positivity ratio on Wednesday was recorded 5.92 percent where 2,219 Coronavirus patients were in critical condition across the country with the number of critical patients rising at a fast pace. The positivity ratio was determined on the basis of positive cases appearing in 100 samples of Covid patients.

The highest positivity ratio was observed in Karachi which was 13.84 percent followed by Hyderabad with 8.79 percent and Swat 7.89 percent, according to the latest update issued by the NCOC. The positivity ratio in various federating units was as in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) was 2.14 percent, Balochistan 4.95 percent, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) 3.98 percent, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) 5.87 percent, Punjab 4.44 percent and Sindh had 8.40 percent positivity ratio.

It also mentioned the Province wise COVID Positivity Ratio breakdown that indicated in Punjab, Lahore had 6.12 percent, Rawalpindi had maximum of 4.90 percent, Faisalabad 4.21 percent and Multan 4.85 percent positivity ratio. In Sindh, Karachi had 13.84 percent, Hyderabad 8.79 percent, in KP, Peshawar had 7.21 percent, and Swat had 7.89 percent, in Baluchistan, Quetta had 3.94 percent, in ICT 3.98 percent positivity ratio was prevailing. In AJK, the positivity ratio in Muzaffarabad had 1.79 percent.