ISLAMABAD: The National Command Operation Center on Wednesday announced to lift of a number of restrictions, including the reopening of educational institutions, in districts where the positivity rate is less than five percent and the resumption of outdoor dining, imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
DEATH TOLL NEARS 20,000:
Earlier in the day, the death toll from coronavirus infections neared 20,000, according to official data published on Wednesday, as the pandemic appeared to be raging again with the authorities reporting more than 3,000 new infections for a second day, up from 1,531 last week.
Epidemiologists say excess mortality — deaths from all causes that exceed the five-year average for the time of year — is the best way of gauging deaths from a disease outbreak because it is internationally comparable.
The government portal keeping track of the outbreak also registered 3,256 new infections after testing 41,771 samples, receiving back a positivity rate of 7.8 percent.
Statistics 19 May 21:
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 41,771
Positive Cases: 3256
Positivity % : 7.79%
Deaths : 104— NCOC (@OfficialNcoc) May 19, 2021
New infections came down to a two-month low of 1,531 on May 14, the second day of Eidul Fitr, but have since grown to cross the grim milestone of 3,000 cases, signaling another rise in the third peak of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, recoveries increased by 4,440 to 799,951, or 90.3 percent of total infections. There are currently 66,377 active cases of Covid-19, with 4,549 of them in critical care units, NCOC said.
B.1.617 — the highly contagious United Kingdom variant of coronavirus — now accounts for up to 70 percent of nationwide Covid-19 infections, a research centre studying the disease in the country reported earlier this month.
“There is a 60 percent to 70 percent prevalence of the UK variant in Pakistan (today),” Professor Dr Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhry, director at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi, told Reuters, adding that this figure was 2 percent in January.
The ICCBS works on Covid-19 samples and provides research and data to the government.
Over the weekend, the government allowed the reopening of inter-provincial and inter-city public transport, which has remained shut for a week during the Eid holidays from May 9 to 15.
A meeting of the NCOC also allowed the reopening of all government and private offices with 50 percent attendance from Monday (May 17).
However, despite allowing normal life back on track, the body made it clear that the ban on tourism activities will continue until further notice. All tourism sites including the northern areas will remain closed in the light of the decision.
However, tourists were still seen travelling towards tourist points during the Eid holidays. But they were not allowed to travel further and were returned by the authorities mid-way.
The government launched a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination drive for the general public, starting with older people, in March. The drive began with a focus on the oldest people in the community, generally over the age of 80.
The authorities began the vaccination with Chinese Sinopharm and CanSino jabs. Private hospitals in major cities are using the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine that has been imported by a local pharmaceutical company.
The government has also approved the emergency use of Oxford-AstraZeneca and China’s CoronaVac vaccines. It received its first shipment of AstraZeneca doses through the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax) facility earlier this month.
The government is aiming to ramp up the immunisation campaign in the summer and expects to receive 13.2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines by the end of June.
