Islamabad: Pakistan’s COVID-19 positivity rate remained below 4 per cent for the 8th consecutive on Sunday recording 3.26 per cent as the country is making significant progress in the fight against coronavirus.
Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiative Asad Umar who also heads the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC), said Pakistan has crossed the threshold of 60 million recipients of at least one dose of COVID-19 and is most likely to hit the target of 70 million by the end of the current year.
The government’s COVID-19 vaccine administration drive received a boost after seven million doses of Chinese and Russian vaccines arrived in Islamabad a day earlier.
SOPs announced for pilgrims returning from Iraq
The NCOC has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for pilgrims coming from Iraq, asking them to stay in quarantine for one day.
Iraq has been placed in Category C, which includes the regions with the most COVID-19 cases. People cannot visit such countries without getting special permission and following the necessary health guidelines. However, in view of Chehlum of Imam Husain, special permission was granted to those who travelled to Iraq.
UK to accept Pakistan’s COVID-19 vaccination certificates
The British government is changing COVID-19 rules from Monday, and will accept Pakistan’s vaccine certificates — admitting one of the four vaccines approved by London — to travel to the UK without quarantine or self-isolation.
Besides, the UK government is also removing the ‘Amber List’ designation completely allowing anyone vaccinated anywhere.
This was confirmed by the UK High Commissioner to Pakistan, Dr Christian Turner, while speaking to the media a day earlier.
35 deaths, 1656 new cases in 24 hours
Pakistan continues to see a decline in COVID-19 cases as the country recorded less than 2,000 infections and below 4 per cent positivity rate.
According to the latest statistics released by the NCOC, as many as 50,779 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours across the country, of which 1,656 came back positive.
The country’s COVID-19 positivity rate remained 3.26 per cent on Sunday while 2,052 people recovered from the virus in the past one day. According to the NCOC, after 35 casualties in the last 24 hours the country’s toll had climbed to 27,866 while there were 46,503 active cases of COVID-19 in the country.
