-151 more fall prey to COVID
-Government strives to counter deadly third peak
-Production and supply of oxygen reviewed
-‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ strategy urged | Ban on inbound flights from 5th recommended
-Experts say health care facilities at risk of being overwhelmed
By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Thursday ordered airlines to sharply cut the number of inbound flights between May 5 and 20 out of concern that travellers from overseas could deteriorate the coronavirus situation.
In a meeting chaired by Minister for Development and Planning Asad Umar, the forum decided to review the measure on May 18. Detailed instructions regarding the reduction in air travel would be provided by the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA), a press statement announced.
The measure comes as the government struggles to arrest a deadly third peak of the pandemic and considers imposing stricter lockdowns to lower the death rate, the number of infections resulting in fatalities, that hit the highest point since the start of the pandemic in February last year to reach 2.2 percent.
Officials and experts have said health care facilities are at risk of being overwhelmed. The country has very limited health resources, with ventilators and oxygen in short supply. More than 70 percent of ventilators and oxygenated beds were occupied in hospitals in many major cities until earlier this week.
During today’s meeting, the NCOC also reviewed the production and supply of oxygen, granting permission to import 6,000 metric tonnes of oxygen and 5,000 oxygen cylinders to shore up healthcare facilities across the country. Besides this, the body also allowed the import of 20 cryogenic tanks and decided to shut down the iron scrap industry of Misri Shah in Lahore so oxygen could be diverted to the healthcare sector instead.
Separately, Umar announced that starting from May 3, the vaccination against Covid-19 will be open to people aged between 40 and 49. While expressing satisfaction at the pace of registration for vaccination, the minister in-charge of coronavirus operations said on Twitter that Thursday marked the second successive day with more than 100,000 vaccinations in the country.
The government on Tuesday opened the registration for Covid-19 vaccination for the 40-49 age group and also allowed walk-in vaccination of all registered citizens aged 50 and above. Pakistan started the general vaccination drive in March after the arrival of China-gifted vaccine doses, with the frontline health workers and elderly people given priority for inoculation.
Other than vaccine doses gifted by China, the government has purchased 3 million vaccine doses from several companies, whereas orders for another 30 million doses have already been placed to speed up the vaccination process in the country.
The NCOC also announced a “Stay Home, Stay Safe” strategy from May 8 to May 16, aimed at controlling the movement of people, including during the Eid holidays. Eid-ul-Fitr holidays would be observed from May 10 to 15, the statement said. “Announcement of Eid Holidays clearly stating intention of reducing national mobility,” it added.
The forum has also imposed a ban on the crescent night (chand raat) stalls; tourism and routes leading to tourist destinations; inter-provincial, inter-city and intra-city public transport.
Private vehicles will operate with 50 per cent capacity. It also announced to issue comprehensive standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Youm-e-Ali, Itekaf, Shab-e-Qadar, Jumatul Wida, and Eid prayers by May 1. The government has been making all-out efforts to ensure the standard operating procedures to be followed by the public.
Besides restrictions already in place, the authorities have recently taken fresh measures including closing schools in cities with over 5 percent coronavirus positivity rate, banning indoor and outdoor dining, and reducing market opening and office hours.
According to the officials, the number of critical cases in the country has been on the rise recently and the healthcare system has remained under immense pressure, with hospitals facing a shortage of beds and medical oxygen.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that the government is considering importing medical oxygen from China and Iran given a shortage due to a growing number of coronavirus cases.
Moreover, Pakistan on Thursday has reported 151 more COVID deaths in a single day, pushing the nationwide tally of fatalities to 17,680. According to the latest figures issued by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 5,480 persons were tested positive for COVID-19 for the same period, pushing the number of positive cases to 815,711. Pakistan has conducted 57,013 tests in the past 24 hours out of which 5, 480 persons were tested positive for the disease. Overall 11,739,027 tests have been conducted so far to detect the deadly virus.
The COVID positivity ratio was recorded at 9.61 percent during the last 24 hours. The recovery of the COVID patients is on the rise as many as 708,193 have regained their health from a pandemic, with 3,699 people in the past 24 hours, while 5,263 patients are still battling for their lives at the country’s various hospitals. On Wednesday, Pakistan-made ventilators were approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), the federal information minister Fawad Chaudhry congratulated Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) for the feather in its cap.
