ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Chief Asad Umar has said Punjab health officials will vaccinate senior citizens aged above 80 at their homes.
Speaking to a private news channel, Asad Umar said that the NCOC took the decision in a meeting today. The move to vaccinate senior citizens at home will begin in the next two days, he added.
“The government has decided to take the initiative since it is quite difficult for old people to stand in long queues to get vaccinated, especially since summers have also begun,” the NCOC chief said.
He urged other provinces to vaccinate senior citizens at their homes too, adding that provinces can take up the matter according to their own convenience. Earlier, the government opened up registration for the coronavirus vaccination for peopled aged 50 years and above.
Pakistan was previously vaccinating the country’s healthcare workers and people over the age of 60 only. Pakistan is using the Sinopharm vaccine developed by state-run China National Pharmaceutical Group, which has shown to be 79% effective.
Pakistan recorded 4,323 new coronavirus cases and 43 deaths in the past day as the government mulls more restrictions including a ban on inter-province travel on weekends.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the total number of cases recorded so far reached 692,231 cases while the death toll has reached 14,821.
The total number of active cases has increased to 61,450 the positivity rate stood at 9.96 percent. There are 3,587 patients who remain in critical condition in hospitals across the country which is the highest number since the pandemic started.
There were 43,362 coronavirus detection tests conducted in the past day, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 10.446 million since the first case was reported. Overall 615,980 people have recovered from the virus including 2,902 in the past day.
Punjab remains the worst affected area as they are 31,077 active cases. There have been 233,348 cases recorded so far and 6,587 deaths. Islamabad has recorded 61,552 cases and 583 deaths while there are 11,591 active cases in the region.
