Islamabad: The Pakistan government is lifting all COVID-19 related restrictions in view of the significant decline in the coronavirus cases. However, those who have not been vaccinated will continue to face these restrictions.
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, who is also Chairman of the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC), announced that the virus cases in the country were constantly on the decline while 70 per cent of the country’s population had been vaccinated.
No curbs for vaccinated
The federal minister said the government had decided to do away restrictions related to COVID-19 and urged all those who have not yet been vaccinated to get COVID-19 vaccine shots.
Asad Umar, however, reiterated the government would continue to monitor disease pattern closely and take action if needed.
A day earlier, too, while addressing a press conference, Asad Umar had said there were encouraging signs and the health authorities were witnessing the “ending phase” of the coronavirus.
4.87m administered booster shots
On Wednesday, the NCOC data showed that 493 COVID-19 cases returned positive after 34,698 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours while the positivity ratio remained at 1.42 per cent.
Meanwhile, the health authorities are also administering booster shots on a continuous basis and according to the data so far 4.87 million booster doses have been administered — 57,760 in the last 24 hours alone.
Besides, more than 101.88 million persons have been fully vaccinated, which is again a milestone achievement against coronavirus.
The country’s tally of coronavirus cases stood at 1.52 million while 1.47 million recovered so far from the virus.
There are 17,512 active COVID-19 cases in the country. Pakistan’s COVID-19 death toll stood at 30,317 after four deaths were reported in 24 hours.
Curtain on NCOC by April’s end
The government has also decided to shut down the NCOC by the end of next month and now the responsibilities of the NCOC will be carried out by the National Institute of Health.
Asad Umar said the situation of the pandemic was reviewed in detail and it was observed that since the last eight weeks the positivity ratio has been declining and the number of patients in critical care units is also declining.
