-Vaccine made mandatory for domestic travel
-Pakistan crosses 20 million inoculations mark
-Over 500,000 people vaccinated in single day
-Sindh sounds alarm as 35 Delta variant cases confirmed in Karachi since June
-NADRA directs to stop entertaining non-vaccinated citizens
By Ali Imran
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army will be called in once again for implementing the government’s mandated coronavirus standard operations procedures (SOPs), the National Command and Operations Centres (NCOC) decided on Tuesday.
The Pakistan Army was last mobilised in April to enforce coronavirus safety protocols in several parts of the country after Prime Minister Imran Khan had sought its help in curbing the spread of the virus. The NCOC has also decided to make coronavirus vaccination mandatory for domestic travel from August 1, a statement from the forum said. Meanwhile, international flight operations have been increased to 50%.
“The decision to increase international flight operations has been made to repatriate Pakistanis stranded abroad,” the statement said, adding that the decision would come into effect from July 15. The move to increase flight operations will allow the government to bring back 2,500-3,000 Pakistanis every day, and all the airports and relevant authorities have been directed to make necessary arrangements to accommodate the passengers, the forum said.
The forum has decided to impose smart lockdowns with the help of heat maps. The meeting was informed that the authorities in Islamabad, Multan Peshawar, and Gujranwala had taken action against people violating COVID-19 SOPs. The authorities in these cities also sealed hotels where they had spotted violations of coronavirus SOPs, the forum was informed. The forum also took notice of hotel staff and waiters performing their duties without getting vaccinated and not wearing masks, the statement from the forum said.
Moreover, Pakistan has crossed the 20 million inoculations mark, the NCOC was informed, with more than 525,000 getting the jabs in the last 24 hours.
Pakistan’s daily coronavirus case load dropped slightly for the second consecutive day after the country reported 1,590 new cases Tuesday morning. The daily case count had been on an upward trend since July 7, but the country recorded a slight drop a day earlier and the downward trend continued Tuesday. Another 21 people died of coronavirus in Pakistan in the last 24 hours, pushing the national death tally since the pandemic started to 22,618.
Latest data issued by the NCOC Tuesday morning showed that after 43,790 tests were conducted on July 12, 1,590 people tested positive for coronavirus. Pakistan’s positivity rate is currently 3.63%. A day earlier, Pakistan’s positivity rate, too, dropped after being on an upward trend for six consecutive days since July 6.
The total active COVID-19 cases in Pakistan are currently 39,644. According to a province-wise breakdown, the total cases reported in Sindh so far are 348,385, in Punjab 348,509, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 139,593, in Islamabad Capital Territory 83,831, in Balochistan 28,321, in Gilgit-Baltistan 6,972 and in Azad Jammu and Kashmir 21,256. At least 914,605 people have recovered so far across Pakistan, making it a significant count. According to NCOC’s figures, the total number of cases has reached 976,867.
Meanwhile, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho on Tuesday urged the public to strictly adhere to the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs), with 35 cases of the highly contagious Delta variant confirmed in Karachi alone so far. The 35 cases of the Delta variant, first detected in India, have been confirmed in Karachi since June, the Sindh health department said in a statement.
It said “severe symptoms” of the virus had been observed in people who were confirmed to be suffering from the Delta variant. Five members of the same family in Karachi’s Lyari neighbourhood were found to have the Delta variant, the statement added. It further said 18 cases of the Delta variant were confirmed this month alone, while all affected patients were undergoing treatment.
Pechuho urged the public to limit their movement and follow precautionary measures, including wearing masks in public places.
The 35 Delta variant cases have been detected through genome sequencing performed on confirmed infections of Covid-19, suggesting there could be more undetected cases of the Delta strain within communities. Sindh health department spokesperson Atif Vighio told media that genome sequencing was being conducted in cases where a person arrived in the province from another country where the Delta variant is the pre-dominant strain, and tested positive for Covid-19.
