ISLAMABAD: The parliamentary health secretary announced on Wednesday that Covid-19 vaccine will be provided to citizens free of cost, while the country witnessed the most single-day deaths due to Covid-19 since July 9, as 75 people died in the last 24 hours, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday.
The Covid-19 vaccine, once procured, will be administered to citizens free of cost, Parliamentary Secretary for National Health Services Regulations and Coordination (NHSRC) Dr Nausheen Hamid said.
According to APP, Dr Hamid, in an interview with a private news channel, said that a vaccine will be made available “once its efficacy is proved”.
The coronavirus situation in the country is deteriorating with the fatality rate also increasing rapidly across Pakistan. The country in the last 24 hours reported at least 2,829 new Covid-19 cases. According to the NCOC data, at least 35,197 people were tested, of whom 2,829 were diagnosed as positive for the coronavirus. The results take the country’s positivity rate to 8.04 per cent.
So far, 8,166 people have succumbed to the virus in Pakistan. Meanwhile, 345,365 patients have recovered from the respiratory illness, of whom 2,079 have made a recovery in the last 24 hours. There are now 49,780 active cases in the country. The condition of 2,244 patients is reported critical in the country.
According to the NCOC data, the number of coronavirus patients in Sindh has reached 175,642, 120,356 in Punjab, 47,701 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 30,748 in Islamabad, 4,666 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 6,982 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
Meanwhile, Balochistan reported that it has recorded 28 new coronavirus infections and one death by the disease in the last 24 hours. According to a report released by the Balochistan Health Department, 28 more persons were tested positive for coronavirus in the province, bringing the total number of infected patients to 17,215.
As many as 16,466 Covid-19 patients have so far recovered from the disease, while a total 169 deaths were recorded with one more death due to the deadly virus. “Two more persons detected coronavirus positive at educational institutions in 24 hours,” the health department stated. “Overall confirmed cases in Balochistan’s academic institutions have reached 1,026,” the health department said.
The province has 95 per cent recovery rate of novel coronavirus patients, while four percent active cases, health department spokesperson had earlier stated.
In GB, at least nine new Covid-19 cases were recorded during the past 24 hours, bringing the total numberto 4,667. With no fatalities, the region’s death toll stood at 97, the health department said in a statement. As many as 4,393 patients have recovered so far, it added.
Meanwhile, Sindh Police on Wednesday said that 51 more policemen have been tested positive for coronavirus in three days, increasing the aggregate of infected officials in police to 3,703.
In Sindh, 20 police officials have died of the coronavirus disease, the spokesperson stated. According to the spokesperson, “Presently, the tally of novel coronavirus active cases in the police department is 202.”
In Bannu district of KP, additional director of Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital, Dr Muhammad Farooq died of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday. A statement issued by Provincial Doctors Association Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that Dr Farooq had been on a ventilator at a private hospital in Peshawar for the past few days.
The doctors association added that so far 40 health workers and 25 doctors have died in the province from Covid-19; however, the government has not given a martyr’s package to any of the deceased medical practitioners in the province. Risk allowance for working during the pandemic has been given, it added.
The KP has reported 331 new coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours, bringing the total number to 47,701. Six more patients died from Covid-19 in the province with death toll rose to 1,375, the health department said in its daily report.
