24 cities face tougher curbs
SUNDAYS TO BE DEDICATED FOR SECOND DOSE OF JABS; 60M VACCINATED
Hundreds of people were stranded at bus stations yesterday in Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, Peshawar and other cities as the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC) imposed tougher restrictions in 24 cities in view of a spike in Covid-19 cases.
Educational institutions have also been closed from Sep. 6 to Sept. 12. Now, the NCOC will meet again on Sept. 12, to review the status of Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) there.
Strict measures
Besides closure of educational institutions and ban over intercity transport, indoor and outdoor gatherings and gyms have also been banned in the cities that include Faisalabad, Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali, Rahim Yar Khan, Khanewal, Bhakkar, Multan, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Sheikhupura and Bahawalpur in Punjab, Haripur, Malakand, Mansehra, Swabi, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, Abbottabad and Peshawar and Islamabad. Pakistan yesterday reported 79 deaths and 3,980 new cases of Covid-19 during the last 24 hours that took the overall tally of cases to 1.175 million and the toll to 26,114 in the country.
According to the NCOC portal, since Aug. 31, the country’s average positivity rate remained below 7 per cent and on Saturday too, it was 6.21 per cent while the number of active cases in the country was 91,503. After 2,474 recoveries in the last 24 hours, Pakistan’s total number of recoveries has climbed to 1,057,941 (1.057 million) and the recovery rate is 90 per cent, the NCOC data said.
Push for vaccination
Meanwhile, the NCOC in a social media post asked all those Pakistani citizens who had received their first dose of vaccine while their second dose was due, to reach their nearest vaccination centre without waiting for the text message.
They will be administered the vaccine jabs, said the NCOC, adding “Sunday has particularly been reserved for the second dose.”
Pakistan yesterday reported administering more than 60 million doses of vaccine. According to the NCOC official Twitter account, a total of 1.151 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine were administered in the past 24 hours and the total number of vaccine doses administered so far has reached 60.536 million. The virus monitoring body termed this number a benchmark.
Meanwhile, Turkey has further eased quarantine regulations for Pakistani nationals.