-Chairs Session on targeted subsidy program for poor-income class
-Says Budget to further strengthen economy
By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan stressed the need for timely vaccination and adherence to the standard operating procedures to prevent the spread of pandemic.
Chairing a meeting to review progress of vaccination drive in Islamabad on Monday, Prime Minister expressed satisfaction over the Covid-19 vaccination drive in the country. He said that the precedent of voluntary vaccination is rare even in developed countries. The Prime Minister called for collective efforts by institutions and people to avert the Indian-like situation due to the pandemic.
The meeting was apprised that the number of vaccination centers has been doubled and mobile teams have been increased from 48 to 600.
The meeting was also informed that over ten million citizens have so far been vaccinated, which is a significant milestone.
Furthermore, the public and private organizations are also ensuring vaccination of their staff. The country on Monday recorded the lowest deaths and positive cases reported in a day since June 1; the national tally on Monday of total active COVID-19 cases was recorded 41,726 with 1,019 more people tested positive for the deadly virus and 1,549 people recovered from the disease during the last 24 hours.
Thirty-four corona patients have died during past 24 hours, 33 of whom were under treatment in hospitals and one out of the hospitals in their respective quarantines or homes, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).
During the past 24 hours, most of the deaths have occurred in the Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Out of the total 34 deaths occurred in the last 24 hours nine of them had died who were under treatment on ventilators. There were 2,676 Covid infected patients under treatment in critical care with 15 patients brought into various Covid dedicated healthcare facilities in past 24 hours.
The National Covid positivity ratio during past 24 hours was recorded 2.59 percent. It may be mentioned here that the Covid positivity ratio was the percentage of actual positive cases appearing in every 100 tests performed to identify infected individuals. Separately Monday after a session on Covid, Mr. Khan also chaired a session huddled to layout subsidized programs for the poor-income class of Pakistan wherein he was briefed that the survey for the targeted subsidy program is 92 per cent complete and will take a couple of weeks before its finished.
The purpose of this program is to extend subsidies to low- and poor-income classes in essential food items for which a survey is underway to determine the number of deserving households for the subsidy. The session was attended by the finance minister Shaukat Tarin, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on poverty alleviation Sania Nishtar, PM’s advisor on revenue Waqar Masood, the president of National Bank Arif Usmani, among others.
Dr Nishter briefed the session on the targeted subsidy program survey hammered out under Ehsaas and said by the end of this month the survey would complete.
The PM appreciated the efforts and noted targeted subsidy is needed because extending across-the-board price relief to both the rich and the poor will be a waste of resources.
Besides, Presiding over a meeting of the spokespersons of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), Mr expressed his satisfaction over the fact that Pakistan’s economy was not only stable but was also moving towards development.
