Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has announced that the government was lifting all Covid-19 related restrictions across the country. Umar said that Pakistan “has come close to eliminating the pandemic, hence, all restrictions related to the coronavirus on weddings, indoor dining and markets, are ending.” He added, however, that all restrictions on those not vaccinated against the coronavirus would remain.
The Nepalese Mountaineer Lakpa Sherpa says that he has faced more challenges than ever this year. Although Lakpa Sherpa was able to climb Everest on seven occasions. However, this year’s season was the most challenging due to a cyclone, a coronavirus, and misinformation. Nepal’s mountaineering industry was forced to close in 2020 due to the pandemic, crippling the tiny Himalayan country’s tourism economy.
The number of critical Covid-19 patients on oxygen has reached 5,360 the previous day. “This is 57% more than during the peak last June,” Asad Umar said in series of tweets. Meanwhile, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho revealed that the South African and Brazilian variants of the novel coronavirus disease have been found in samples taken by the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH).
Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday that the Pakistan Army has been requested to help the law enforcement agencies implement Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOPs) across the country. The premier appealed to the nation to follow precautions, warning the country would soon be facing a situation like India if it continued on the same trajectory.
Pakistan is mulling over administering a third dose of the two-dose Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine to some of its elderly citizens, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health, Dr. Faisal Sultan, has disclosed. The moves come after UAE started administering a third of Sinopharm’s vaccine last month after initial and booster doses did not develop the required level of immunity among some elderly individuals.
Pakistan will import Chinese Cansino Biologics Covid-19 vaccines in bulk to package three million doses locally, said Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar. The bulk vaccine received will be formulated, sterilised and packed in Pakistan. For this purpose special equipment has been procured and manpower is being trained. The bulk dose will arrive in mid-April.
Asad Umar, the head of Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) has revealed that the country would now start registering people aged above 50 years to receive the coronavirus vaccine, starting March 30. He encouraged everyone in that age bracket to get registered. Registration for people over 60 is ongoing. The two-dose Sinopharm vaccine is being given in this phase.
The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), will meet today, Tuesday, to revisit last month’s decision to lift several coronavirus restrictions as COVID-19 cases have surged. On Monday, the NCOC held a meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar and discussed rising positivity rates, corresponding actions, and the national vaccine strategy.
A Toronto-based Pakistani doctor has introduced an instant Covid-19 diagnostic test using a smartphone. Dr Naqeeb Khalid, who graduated from King Edward Medical University in 1983, says his innovation is based on a digital platform that displays the result instantly on any smartphone and can also communicate or store the results along with time and GPS information.
Scientists at Karachi’s Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) believe Pakistan is likely to become the first country to complete the research on intravenous immunoglobulin (C-IVIG) therapy for the treatment coronavirus. The scientist conducting the clinical trials needed to introduce the treatment at a mass level say that ‘severe’ patients who had received the product had a 100 percent recovery rate.