ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Pakistan reported 42 deaths from coronavirus on Wednesday, the first time the daily number has passed the 40-mark since October, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said.
On October 6, the nation, then in the midst of a peak, recorded 46 deaths from Covid-related complications.
Statistics 3 Feb 22:
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 59,786
Positive Cases: 5830
Positivity %: 9.75%
Deaths :42
Patients on Critical Care: 1590— NCOC (@OfficialNcoc) February 3, 2022
New cases of coronavirus, confirmed in the past 24 hours, were at 5,830, the federal coronavirus task force said.
The latest coronavirus deaths brought the total official national death toll to 29,372, with a total of 1.44 million cases.
The nation is currently facing a serious fifth wave of Covid-19 triggered off by the Omicron variant, with a national positivity rate of just under 10 percent over the last few days.
In order to control the pandemic, the NCOC has imposed several restrictions on business, recreational and educational activities.
Meanwhile, the number of active cases dropped to 100,072, including 1,590 who are in critical condition.
Sindh is the most-affected province of the country in terms of the number of cases with 546,141 infections followed by Punjab, which has reported 483,779 cases.
MORE COVAX JABS
Pakistan will get 40 million more doses of the vaccines in the first quarter of 2022 under the Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) facility, the Pakistan chapter of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said.
IT said that since May 2021, Pakistan has received over 91 million doses under the facility, constituting about half of the total 175 million doses administered since the beginning of the vaccination drive in March 2021.
The donor agency said it also delivered 41 ultra-cold chain equipment and a huge quantity of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits, syringes, laboratory equipment, and other essential medical supplies.
“Since the beginning of the crisis, more than 150 million people have been reached with messages on Covid-19 prevention and access to services through national media channels with UNICEF support, and more than 50 million at-risk people have been reached through community engagement activities,” a statement from the agency read.
Moreover, almost 9 million people received information and guidance through a national helpline supported by UNICEF.
The agency informed that since the outbreak in February 2020, UNICEF has also tried to mitigate the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and supported vulnerable families and children through the provision of safe water, adequate sanitation and hygiene, safe formal and non-formal education, primary health care services, and immunization, screening, and treatment of malnutrition.
It said it also supports the government to address the gender gap in Covid-19 vaccination through door-to-door vaccination drives, the establishment of vaccine booths for women, and recruiting female vaccinators to increase the uptake of the vaccine among women.
HOME TESTING ALLOWED
The government also approved the general public conducting self-testing for Covid-19 with testing kits to be bought over the counter from pharmacies, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) said.
According to the authority, the tests which require nasal swabs or saliva specimens have now been approved for home testing as a measure to reduce the chances of Covid-19 transmission from hospitals and laboratories where the tests were earlier being conducted.
However, the tests which require nasopharyngeal or oropharyngeal specimens will only be conducted by laboratory personnel or health professionals.
