Daily Times

Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Thursday said that Pakistan’s hospitals are under a lot of pressure because of the growing number of coronavirus patients, most of whom tested positive for the Delta variant of the virus.

“As seen globally, [the] impact of the Indian delta variant in Pakistan also shows that it spreads faster and increases chances of patients to need hospitalization,” the minister wrote on Twitter.

The minister, who is also the head of the National Command Operation Centre (NCOC), further that at the moment, both hospital inflow as well as critical care patients, have reached the highest levels since the start of the pandemic. In view of the situation, he urged people to follow the government’s mandated coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) and get vaccinated.

Meanwhile, Pakistan reported 89 new coronavirus deaths on Thursday, raising the total death tally to 25,978 nationwide. According to the latest figures provided by the NCOC, 61,651 coronavirus tests were conducted in the country, out of which 4,103 came back positive. The positivity ratio was recorded at 6.65% in the country as of Thursday.

The total tally of Covid-19 cases now stands at 1,167,791, with most cases reported in Punjab. The number of recoveries nationwide has reached 1,048,872 so far, while the number of active cases in the country stands at 92,941.

According to the official portal, the total number of Covid-19 patients in Sindh has reached 433,931, in Punjab 396,326, in Balochistan 32,282, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 163,010, in Islamabad 99,910, in Azad Kashmir 32,380 and 9,952 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The NCOC in its special guidelines under obligatory regime for vaccination to overcome the deadly contagious disease of coronavirus has announced that non-vaccinated individuals would not be rendered any services after September 15. The forum has worked out a phase-wise strategy with the core focus on emphasising that high vaccination ratio is fundamental to success of ‘Pandemic Exit Strategy’ in the country, according to an official NCOC document. “An organized regime has been strategized to realize the successful exit strategy and achieve desired tangible vaccination targets. Aforementioned, an obligatory regime will be followed from dates mentioned against each. No individual will be entertained in under mentioned sectors, if vaccination criteria as described below are not met,” it underscored.

The education sector was required to balance teachers, administrative and transport staff plying with educational institutes during Covid-19 vaccine inoculations for partial vaccination by August 31 and complete vaccination by September 30.

For the air travel, permission for partially vaccinated was already in place whereas complete vaccination to enforced by September 30. Moreover, in order to contain disease spread risk in larger public crowding places entry in shopping malls would be ensured for partially vaccinated by August 31 and fully vaccinated by September 30. Hotel and guesthouses bookings for partially inoculated by August 31 and fully vaccinated September 30. Dine in and outdoor dining at hotels, restaurants and marriage halls and ceremonies for partially vaccinated was in place and by September 30 only completely vaccinated to avail these services. The deadline for partial and complete vaccination of students of 17 years age and above was September 15 and October15 respectively.