Govt crosses half a million daily vaccination doses' mark

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan amped up its coronavirus vaccinations on Monday by vaccinating a record 525,000 persons, revealed National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) head Asad Umar.

"For the first time, we crossed half a million doses of vaccination yesterday," tweeted the NCOC chief. "Highest ever first dose was also achieved yesterday with 3 lakh 90 thousand first doses administered," he added. The minister vowed to increase the pace of the vaccinations in future.

"The pace will increase further inshallah," he tweeted. Pakistan began its vaccination drive against coronavirus in February this year, inoculating people against COVID-19 to ensure their safety. The minister's statement comes in the wake of a slight decline in COVID-19 cases after almost a week of uptick in the daily coronavirus case count.

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 today. 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. The NCOC revealed that 1,590 new cases had been reported in the country on Tuesday. Latest data issued by the NCOC shows 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.