LAHORE: Following the rising number of registered senior citizens for Covid-19 vaccination, the Punjab government has decided to double the existing facilities at the Expo Centre Johar Town.

The decision was taken on the reports that every day the number of citizens aged 60 years or above was increasing at the Expo Centre, prompting the authorities to expand the facilities.

Consequently, the Punjab government has decided to increase the screening desks at the centre from 50 to 100, vaccination counters from 30 to 60 while the rest areas from 80 to 160.

Sharing some details, an official of the health department says after receiving registration code, an elderly citizen visits first at the screening desk for check-up of blood pressure, sugar and other necessary tests.

1,566 more contract Covid in Punjab

Later, he is referred to the vaccination counter where after getting the shot he is made to wait for some time at the rest area to examine any reaction.

The official says the government is receiving complaints about extraordinary rush at the Expo Centre when unregistered citizens started visiting there.

However, in order to address the problems, it has been decided to double the capacity at the Expo Centre and the additional facilities will be provided in a couple of days there.

To a question, the official says as many has 33,308 elderly citizens have been vaccinated so far in Punjab. Of them, 18,810 citizens got first shot in Lahore, 1,702 in Faisalabad, 1,180 in Rawalpindi and 1,135 in Gujranwala.

Others were vaccinated in Sialkot, Norowal, Gujrat, Mandi Bahuddin, Multan, Khanewal, Vehari, DG Khan, Rajanpur, Layyah, Chniot, TT Singh, Jhang, Rahim Yar Khan, Sargodha, Mianwali, Khushab, Bhawalnagar, Bahawalpur, Lodhran, Bhakar, Sahiwal, Pakpatan and Okara.

Meanwhile, with 43 more deaths, 1,566 people tested positive for the virus in Punjab during the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 188,225.

Of the new cases, 931 were reported from Lahore alone where the total number of the infections reached 97,686.

The total number of deaths due to the virus in Punjab reached 5,811 in Punjab, according to the official figures released on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, March 17th, 2021