Islamabad: Pakistan’s Ministry of the National Health Services (NHS), in collaboration with the World Health organization (WHO), on Monday launched a countrywide campaign ‘Wear a Mask - Protect Pakistan,’ in order to create awareness among the masses with regard to following COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs),
Dr Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health, along with WHO Country Representative Dr Palitha Mahipala inaugurated the campaign and emphasised the need for strictly following COVID-19 SOPs which start with wearing a mask.
Dr Sultan, who himself was wearing a mask, made it clear that it was not the time to take off the mask as coronavirus was still present in Pakistan and people were falling victim to it. The outbreak of the virus could be reduced if people got vaccinated and maintained social distancing, said Dr Faisal.
Updating on the status of vaccination in the country, Dr Sultan said that almost 20 million people had been vaccinated and the country had set a target of vaccinating 70 million population by the end of the current year.
He, however, warned that only abiding by the SOPs could keep the 4th COVID-19 wave under control.
Under the campaign, WHO will hand over masks to the federal and district health authorities, including National Institute of Health (NIH), the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Health Services Academy (HAS), Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Islamabad police.
The WHO Representative in Pakistan, Doctor Palitha Mahipala said the vaccination campaign in Pakistan was going well.
Mahipala added that the goal of the WHO’s campaign was to make use of masks mandatory and in the coming days, the international health organisation would launch a campaign distributing masks at railway stations, bus stops, and other public places.
During the launch of the campaign, the WHO has also handed over other supplies, equipment and a vehicle to the federal health authorities, including Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), Centre Health Establishment and Nutrition Division, Ministry of National Health Services.
67 deaths, less than 3,000 cases
Pakistan’s daily COVID-19 cases plunged to less than 3,000 daily cases, while 53,188 tests were conducted during the past 24 hours as the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday reported 2,988 cases of COVID-19.
According to the NCOC official account on social media, Pakistan’s active cases had also declined from 91,015 on Sunday to 90,545 on Monday.
Pakistan’s recovery rate is also over 90 per cent and 3,391 persons recovered from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the NCOC data further reveals.
