COVID-19 inoculation using single-dose convidecia vaccine to start from April 5 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) on Saturday was apprised by authorities concerned that single-dose CanSino’s ‘Convidecia’ COVID-19 vaccine administration would commence from April 5 in all provinces.

A morning session of NCOC was presided by Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar via video link and co-chaired by NCOC National Coordinator Lieutenant General Hamood uz Zaman Khan.

The forum was informed that keeping in view the increasing COVID-19 disease spread, 594 more oxygen beds have been added to dedicated COVID-19 health facilities with a special focus on Swat and Peshawar.

The forum also decided to enhance the monitoring mechanism to check violation of preventive COVID-19 SOPs and the establishment of call centers at the district level to pursue registered senior citizen for vaccination was also discussed to further enhance the efficacy of this reach-out drive.

“All Covid-19 vaccination centers must ensure to facilitate above 65 years age individuals who already have been allowed walk-in vaccination facility,” the NCOC emphasized.

All registered citizens were encouraged to get themselves vaccinated.

Earlier today, it was reported that Pakistan recorded 4,723 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours bringing the total nationwide tally to 682,888.

At least 84 people lost their lives during the past 24 hours, out of which eight patients were on ventilator support.

Province-wise, most deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

The country’s death toll climbed to 14,697 after 84 people succumbed to the novel virus in the last 24 hours. Most deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Meanwhile, 2,486 patients recovered from the deadly disease in a day taking the total recoveries to 609,691.

According to NCOC, the total active COVID-19 cases across the country were reported to be 58,500.

Four cities with the highest ventilator occupancy are Multan at 70%, Lahore at 65%, Gujranwala at 60%, and Islamabad at 56%. The total number of ventilators occupied in the country is 393. No patient is on a ventilator in the Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) region.