-Vaccine supply continues to improve
-Covid claims 104 more lives across country
-2,869 new infections detected
-Positivity ratio stands at 7.42%
-Masses urged to follow SOPs on Eid
By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis aged 30 and above will be able to get themselves registered for the coronavirus vaccine from Sunday, May 16. This was revealed by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) chief Asad Umar on Wednesday.In a tweet, Umar explained that the government had decided to open registrations for another age group as the vaccine supply in Pakistan continues to improve and the country’s vaccination capacity gets enhanced day by day.” Starting Sunday the 16th of May, registration will be open to all 30 years and older citizens,” he tweeted.On May 3, Pakistan opened registration for the coronavirus vaccination for people aged between 40 to 49 years across the country. The vaccine registration for the age group has been going on since April 27, whereas walk-in vaccinations for people aged 50 and above are underway in the country.
Vaccination centres are vaccinating people in two shifts during Ramadan, the NCOC had earlier stated. A digital portal has been launched by the federal government for the registration through which a code is assigned to the person and then they can go to a designated vaccination centre and get a jab. Umar had earlier announced that walk-in vaccination facility for people above 40-years-old will be opened from May 12 onwards.
“Starting tomorrow the 12th of May all 40 plus who have registered will be able to walk into any vaccination centre of their choice and get vaccinated,” the minister wrote on Twitter.
He had also informed that vaccination centres are opened for this week and will only be closed for two days on account of Eid-ul-Fitr.
The minister, in a series of tweets, had also pointed out the death rate among people under the age of 40 years has risen during the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan.
Earlier, it was 1% but has risen to 1.8%.
Moreover, the minister had stressed that it is important that the vaccination is concentrated on the most vulnerable segments of the society. He had said that the risk of mortality due to COVID-19 rises sharply with age.
“In Pakistan, the case fatality rate based on cumulative data this strong linkage in our country also reason why we are opening vaccination based on age in descending order is due to finite availability of vaccines globally, as well as vaccination capacity in the country,” the minister had underscored.
He had then mentioned that both supplies of vaccines and vaccination capacity are continuously increasing with concerted efforts. Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic claimed 104 more lives across Pakistan over the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll from the disease to 19,210.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, a total of 2,869 new infections were detected when 38,616 samples were tested during the same period. The positivity ratio of cases was recorded at 7.42%.
The number of confirmed cases climbed to 867,438 with addition of the 2,869 new cases. 5,200 more people recuperated from the disease, taking the number of recoveries to 771,692.
4,707 patients are said to be in critical care across the country. Thus far, Punjab has reported 322,117 cases, Sindh 294,251, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 125,392, Islamabad 78,560, Balochistan 23,655, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 18,056 and Gilgit Baltistan 5,407. Asad Umar, who heads the NCOC, tweeted today that, “As vaccine supply continues to improve and vaccination capacity gets enhanced in all Federating units, we continue to expand the categories of those who are eligible to get vaccinated.”
“Starting sunday the 16th of May, registration will be open to all 30 years and older citizens”.
