Islamabad: Pakistan’s coronavirus daily cases witnessed a spike on Thursday – an alarming sign days after the government eased certain COVID-19 restrictions following a gradual decline in infections.
Pakistan recorded 4,207 new infections and 131 fatalities over the past 24 hours. This is the highest daily figure since May 6 when the South Asian country reported 4,298 cases and 140 deaths.
The single-day cases dropped to 1,500 on May 14 during Eid. On Wednesday there were 3,256 new cases and 104 deaths.
Pakistan government decided to ease restrictions on commercial activities, tourism and transportation imposed on Eid holidays, allowing phased reopening in educational institutes and outdoor dining. However, there is still a ban on cinemas, parks, shrines, gyms, indoor dining and social gatherings.
While restrictions are being eased, health officials have urged the people to continue to be cautious and get vaccinated.
Mass vaccination centre opens in Islamabad
To accelerate the immunisation drive, a mass vaccination centre was opened in Islamabad where 100 trained healthcare workers would vaccinate 7,000 citizens against COVID-19 every day. There are 21 vaccination centres in Islamabad – the city of 2 million where 76 per cent of the 191,000 registered citizens have been vaccinated already.
Minister Asad Umar, who is leading the national efforts against the pandemic, said the sooner Pakistanis get themselves vaccinated, the faster it would be possible for the government to lift all restrictions and go back to normal. “We want to end all restrictions as early as possible but it depends on meeting the target of the maximum number of vaccination in the country” he said.
How many COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in total?
The country of 220 million people has so far administered more than 4.7 million vaccine doses since February. Around 1.1 million people or 1.1 per cent of Pakistan’s 100 million adult population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of May 20. At least 211,986 people received their COVID-19 jabs in the past 24 hours.
