Islamabad: The Sindh government on Tuesday decided to set up an emergency fund to buy coronavirus vaccine and an amount of Rs1.5 billion (Dhs 34m) will be initially allocated for the procurement this year.
Sindh Health Minister Azra Pechuho in a statement said the Sindh government has contacted British manufacturer AstraZeneca and China’s Sinopharm to obtain the vaccine.
In the first phase, 175,000 frontline workers will be vaccinated in the province, she said, adding the federal government was delaying procuring the vaccine.
The Sindh government is making an online portal for people above 60, she added.
Death toll crosses 11,000
Pakistan on Tuesday reported 58 deaths in the last 24 hours due to COVID-19 making the nationwide tally of fatalities 11,055. Besides, with 1,800 new infections during the last 24 hours, the number of positive cases has also surged to 523,011.
According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases (236,530), followed by Punjab (150,316), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (63,825) and Balochistan (18,622).
Islamabad, however, has surpassed even Balochistan in number of infections (40,677).
KP resumes random testing at schools
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) health authorities resumed screening of students of high school and intermediate classes with the opening of schools for Grade 9 to Grade-12.
The results of testing in educational institutions will be analysed in the meetings of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on the basis of which a decision regarding resumption of classes for pre-primary, primary, middle and university students will be made.
Higher secondary schools and colleges on Monday resumed classes at their campuses after almost two months closure due to second wave of the pandemic.
