Tag: NCOC

28 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses manufactured by India under the WHO's COVAX programme have yet to leave the country due to India’s new export restrictions owing to a surge in national cases. For more stories on the pandemic situation, keep reading.

The NCOC revealed on Monday that 26 cities of Punjab, Peshawar and Azad Kashmir reported a case positivity rate of over 8%. Meanwhile 100 patients reportedly succumbed to the novel coronavirus disease. An overall positivity rate of 8.83% was recorded with 4,084 fresh infections. For more, keep reading.

The tried and true smart lockdown policy might not work for the recent COVID-19 wave in which the UK variant, a far more transmissible mutation of the original virus, is wreaking havoc in Pakistan.

Pakistan will begin vaccinating registered frontline healthcare workers in the next few days following the arrival of half-a-million Sinopharm vaccine vials on Monday. Sindh is set to receive 83,000 doses of the COVID-19 drug while it has registered some 170,000 healthcare workers for inoculation. A team from NCOC surveying nine vaccination centers set up in Karachi expressed its satisfaction of the facilities.

Gallup Pakistan survey involving 1,000 participants found that 49% of respondents preferred not to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus disease. Federal Minister for Planning and NCOC head Asad Umar on Wednesday stated that Pakistan would begin vaccinating its frontline healthcare workers from next week. SAPM on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan stated that government-backed vaccines would be free for citizens.

DRAP approves Russia's Sputnik-V for emergency use, meanwhile provinces inform NCOC that staff at teaching hospitals, and district and tehsil headquarters hospitals are nearing completion of their COVID-19 vaccination training. Researchers at the Montreal Heart institute find that colchicine helps significantly reduce the risk of developing complications and dying from COVID-19. Moderna finds its vaccine can protect against the UK and South African coronavirus variants

With just ten volunteers remaining in clinical trials for Chinese state-owned Sinopharm vaccine, which is reported to have 86% efficacy, the drug is expected to be rolled out to registered frontline healthcare workers in early February.

NCOC notifies Sindh that vaccine consignments previously expected to reach the province by January 15 will be delayed; samples of five UK returnees to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa sent to NIH to determine presence of B.1.1.7 variant that emerged in the UK recently; federal cabinet approves relaxation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority to acquire vaccine from either of six firms registered with the NIH.

National positivity rate crossed 3% for the first time in 70 days while upwards of 1,000 single-day COVID-19 infections were recorded on Thursday as second wave picks up steam in Pakistan; eleven districts and sessions courts in Islamabad sealed as judges and court staffers test positive for the coronavirus disease; Government Postgraduate College for Women in Mardan sealed as three teachers and five students found infected, while Sindh education minister Saeed Ghani mulls online education over fears of suspending schools once again amidst second wave outbreak.

Businesses to remain closed after 10PM, parks off-limits after 6PM in eleven cities after Eid-i-Milad-un-Nabi, announces NCOC; 35 shops and five restaurants in Lahore's Raiwind, Model Town and Cantt sealed for SOP violations; six public schools in Malir sealed over coronavirus cases.