— Daily infections breach 5,000-case barrier for first time since August
— Centre mulls school closures for children under 12
ISLAMABAD: The nation recorded 5,034 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, the first time after a period of five months that daily infections exceeded 5,000 and appear to be on course to overtake its previous infection peak, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Tuesday.
Pakistan recorded 5,661 infections on August 4 last year. The NCOC Monday observed that infections had approximately doubled from a week earlier to just under 36,000 active cases.
With the emergence of new infections, the positivity ratio spiked to 9.45 percent in the last 24 hours as the fast-spreading Omicron variant replaces Delta in cities, the NCOC said.
The nation also registered 10 more deaths, taking the death toll to 29,029, the NCOC data showed, with overall cases reaching 1.33 million after the detection of fresh infections.
Sindh is the most affected province with 505,930 cases followed by Punjab with 454,372 cases.
Over the last 24 hours, 1,125 patients have recovered from Covid-19, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1.26 million, said the NCOC.
The government of Prime Minister Imran Khan is resisting Covid-19 restrictions despite the rapid spread of infections, as it tries to avoid exacerbating an economic crisis that is challenging his popularity.
On Monday, the government ordered a review of safeguards and took steps including banning meals from being served on flights. A senior government official told the Financial Times it was also considering closing schools and wedding halls.
But there have been calls for more urgent action.
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has sought tighter restrictions on public gatherings. “We weren’t strict in the last four waves of coronavirus but we have to be strict this time,” Qaiser Sajjad, secretary general of the body, told Geo News.
The reluctance to lockdown has helped the economy avoid the worst of the contractions endured in some other economies such as India. Pakistan’s economy shrunk 0.5 percent in 2020 and grew 4 percent in 2021, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
SCHOOL CLOSURES FOR CHILDREN UNDER 12
Meanwhile, the central government is considering shutting schools for children under the age of 12 years since they are yet to be vaccinated, Parliamentary Secretary on Health Dr Nausheen Hamid said.
Speaking on Geo News, Hamid said the Centre does not plan on closing schools where children above 12, administrative staff, and teachers have received the jabs.
She said the NCOC is devising a strategy to keep checks and balances on public gatherings, which are a major reason for the spread of the virus. It will be formulated in a day or two, the official added.
TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
The health authorities on Monday announced the completion of a successful clinical trial of Chinese traditional herbal medicine for treating the disease.
The Chinese medicine, Jinhua Qinggan Granules (JHQG) manufactured by Juxiechang (Beijing) Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., is already being used in the treatment of Covid-19 patients in China.
“Since it was tried on patients with different variants of Covid-19, we expect it to be effective on Omicron as on other variants,” Professor Iqbal Chaudhry, director of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Science (ICCBS) where trials were conducted, told reporters.
The trials were conducted on 300 patients who were treated at home, and would work on mild to moderate Covid-19 cases, Dr Raza Shah, principal investigator in the trials, told reporters, adding that the efficacy rate was around 82.67 percent.
The trials were approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan (DRAP)
— With input from Reuters
