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ISLAMABAD: As the number of active cases crossed the 790,016 marks for the third time since the coronavirus pandemic began last year, Pakistan on Saturday received 500,000 more doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China.
A special plane from China landed in Islamabad on Saturday (today), carrying a consignment of 500,000 coronavirus vaccines. According to sources said that the consignment of 500,000 Sinopharm vaccine doses from China reached Pakistan’s Noor Khan Air Base via a special plane.
While three special planes left Pakistan and arrived in China’s city of Beijing to bring back more vaccine doses. The process of loading vaccines onto the special planes is underway. The three Boeing 777 planes will return on Sunday with one million doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
All government agencies have stepped up their efforts to deal with the third and possibly deadliest wave of the pandemic.
Pakistan reported 157 deaths from coronavirus on Saturday, making it the country’s highest death toll since the coronavirus pandemic began last year.
Previously, the highest death toll reported was 153 on June 20th last year. The total death tally has now surged to 16,999. On the other hand, the national positivity ratio shot up to 11.27 percent.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Pakistan reported 5,908 cases and 157 deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours. The total number of cases has reached 790,016 since the pandemic began.
The data showed that 52,402 tests were conducted in Pakistan the past day. The total number of active cases is also steadily rising and has reached 86,529.
Punjab has reported 285,542 cases, 276,670 in Sindh, 112,140 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 72,613 in Islamabad, 21,477 in Balochistan, 16,327 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 5,247 in Gilgit Baltistan.
Earlier, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had green-lighted emergency use of Chinese anti-coronavirus vaccine produced by Sinopharm amid the ongoing second COVID-19 wave in the country.
As per details, the decision was taken in meetings held between January 14 and 18 after reviewing vaccine results data submitted by the National Institute of Health (NIH). The move also allows federal and provincial governments, and the private sector to import the anti-COVID-19 drug.
The drug is developed by China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a Sinopharm subsidiary. On December 30, Sinopharm announced that phase III trials showed the vaccine was 79% effective. Thus far, the vaccine has been approved for use in China, Jordan, Egypt Bahrain and Serbia.
This is the second vaccine approved for emergency use in Pakistan. Last Friday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Faisal Sultan said AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine had been approved for emergency use in Pakistan making it the first coronavirus vaccine to get the green light for use in the South Asian country.
