ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Friday confirmed that the third wave of coronavirus pandemic has started in the country, attributing the rising number of cases to the United Kingdom strain of the novel virus.
“Yes, there is no doubt that the third wave has started. The phenomena that are driving it is the spread of the UK strain,” the federal minister said while talking to a private news channel.
“Our own statistics from the last few weeks show a sustained increase in our case fatality rate (the number of patients who succumbed to the virus from the total number infected). At the time, we were speculating that it may be linked to the UK strain. But now the research report is here which establishes [the link],” the minister said, terming it a “very dangerous situation”.
In response to a question regarding cases, Asad said that the uptick in infections was witnessed in districts where a large portion of the Pakistan British community lives.
“We asked National Institute of Health (NIH) to do genome sequencing and first we saw the UK strain in areas in north Pakistan, including Islamabad. After that, we also did genome sequencing for the rest of the country,” he added.
The federal minister also pointed out that the new strain of the coronavirus was more transmissible than the original strain from Wuhan.
“Also, according to today’s report, the mortality ratio of the strain is also high, posing a greater threat,” he stressed.
“The most recent research reports suggested that its mortality rate is also higher,” he said, adding, “This is a really dangerous situation developing as of now and the same is happening in other parts of the region, including Bangladesh.”
In the wake of a sudden increase in the number of infections in the country during these days, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Dr Faisal urged the public to strictly adhere to Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs) to effectively counter the disease.
While chairing a meeting on Health Sahulat Programme, he said, “The government is seeking public full cooperation in adhering to the SoPs. We can save precious lives including those of our near and dear ones by taking preventive measures.”
He urged the citizens to wear a mask, maintain social distance, wash hands with soap frequently and avoid crowded places.
He asked the provincial and district governments to enforce necessary preventing measures at public places and encouraging people to protect themselves and others from the virus by adhering to the SoPs.
Meanwhile, SAPM Dr Faisal Sultan said that effective measures are being adopted to achieve targets of universal health coverage (UHC).
“The government is working for expansion of UHC by investing in health systems, especially in Primary Health Care (PHC) and is committed to implementing its agenda to achieve the target of UHC,” Dr Faisal said.
He reiterated the strengthening of PHC in the country and taking innovative steps to improve the health status of the population.
He assured expansion in coverage of the Sehat Sahulat Programme, which will be instrumental in decreasing the financial burden on the poor and marginalised population and endorsement of the Universal Health Coverage Benefit Package.
The SAPM said that the government is working on developing strategies and plans for strengthening the PHC services and implementation of the UHC plan.
Similarly, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar chaired the meeting of the cabinet committee for the eradication of the coronavirus and expressed concern over the increase in the number of patients in Lahore and other districts.
It was decided to take steps for securing the lives of the common man in cities with more than 5 per cent positivity rate.
The meeting resolved to ban sports activities, Jashan-e-Baharan and public meetings in Lahore and particular cities for two weeks.
Similarly, holding marriage ceremonies in marquees and marriage halls will be banned for two weeks. It was further decided to close markets after Maghrib while milk and yoghurt shops, medical stores and tandoors will be exempted from this prohibition.
According to the decision, only takeaways will be allowed from restaurants and some other places will be closed for two weeks. Meanwhile, parks will be shut down at 6 pm.
Half of the offices’ staff will work from home and the rest of the officials will be allowed to perform duties in the offices, the meeting settled.
The meeting chose to limit the number of passengers in public transport especially the metro bus service and Orange Line Metro Train according to the SoPs.
These arrangements will apply to cities with more than 5 per cent coronavirus positivity rate from Sunday and will remain enforced for the next two weeks.
The Primary & Secondary Health Department will issue a notification in this regard.
The decisions had been taken in the larger public interest and more steps could also be taken after a review of the situation, the CM maintained.
The Primary & Secondary Health Department secretary briefed that 1,632 new cases were reported and 36 others died from coronavirus during the last 24 hours and this number was also reported on June 24, 2020.
The number of patients had increased and children were also getting affected while the ratio of the positive test has increased to 8 per cent in Lahore.
It was further briefed that more than one lac health workers have been vaccinated and elderly citizens were also being vaccinated.
Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, chief secretary, IG Police, SMBR, ACS (Home), administrative secretaries, Lahore commissioner, medical experts attended the meeting while military officials and commissioners participated through video-link.
The number of novel coronavirus infections in Pakistan crossed the 600,000 mark on Friday after 2,701 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, according to the latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). This number takes the total count of active cases to 18,703 and the positivity rate increases up to 6.56 per cent.
The virus also claimed 54 more lives during the same time period, taking the nationwide tally of coronavirus related deaths to 13,430.
Out of the total, Sindh has reported 4,452 deaths, Punjab has reported 5,698, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has reported 2,138, Islamabad has 520 deaths, Balochistan has 202, Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has 103 deaths and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has 317 deaths.
In the past 24 hours, as many as 1,573 patients have recovered from the virus in a day and 1,709 patients are still in critical condition.
A total of 41,133 tests were conducted across the country during this period. Overall 568,065 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far while 9,402,639 samples have been tested thus far.
The second phase of the Covid-19 vaccination drive is also underway in the country, under which a total of 7,582 elderly citizens have been administered the first shot of the vaccine.
As per health authorities, a total of 207,464 elderly citizens got themselves registered for vaccination.
