Islamabad: Health officials on Monday reported 1,019 new coronavirus cases in Pakistan, making it the lowest single-day tally in four months. The country recorded 958 cases on February 15.
With the new cases, the total number of infections in the country reached 942,189 of which 878,740 people or 93.2 of all those infected have recovered so far, according to the official data by National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). The virus positivity rate in the country dropped to 2.6 per cent on June 13.
The single-day fatalities from the virus has also declined in the past few weeks, with 34 deaths reported over the past 24 hours — the lowest level in three months as the country documented 30 deaths on March 23.
Pakistan decided to relax several COVID-19 restrictions, opening schools, restaurants and gyms, after witnessing a significant decline in coronavirus cases since early June.
Contracts to procure 11 million doses
Pakistan’s vaccination drive has picked up pace since last month. Pakistan has received so far received 14.5 million coronavirus vaccine doses and has administered nearly 11 million doses as of June 13. Pakistan has also secured contracts to procure 11 million doses in the month of June to ramp up the vaccination drive in the country of 220 million. Pakistan government recently allocated $1 billion for vaccine procurement in an attempt to reopen the cities.
Pakistan is slowly but successfully moving towards the ambitious goal of vaccinating 70 million of the total population by the end of 2021. The government plans to vaccinate almost 100 million people by July 2022.
50% Islamabad residents jabbed
Nearly 50 per cent of vaccine eligible residents have been partially jabbed in Pakistan’s capital city of Islamabad where a total of 500,000 vaccine doses have been administered so far. The city of 2 million reported 40 new cases and 1 death on June 13, as per official stats. “The positivity ratio is now 1 per cent and has touched the lowest in the entire third wave of the pandemic” said Islamabad District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Zaeem Zia. The Islamabad city administration hopes to vaccinate 80 per cent of the total eligible residents by July.
