ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday said there was no major deviation in positivity ratio of the coronavirus among children from the statistics of two previous waves.

The NCOC, however, said that it had taken stock of the reported surge in positive Covid-19 cases among children. “There is no deviation in positivity ratio in children as compared to previous waves statistics. During all three waves, infection ratio in children aged between 1-10 years remained around 3% of total cases,” it said in a tweet.

The clarification came in response to panic and concerns among citizens that the new wave of the deadly virus is affecting the children more than the previous two waves.

In order to facilitate the elderly people, the NCOC said that citizens above 65 years could now walk into any designated vaccination centre with their CNIC to get on-spot registration and vaccination from Saturday.

5,234 new cases, 83 deaths reported in a single day

The NCOC expressed concern over non-implementation of its instructions about adherence to standard operating procedures (SOPs) relating to face mask, social distancing and commercial timings. The concern was expressed during a meeting of NCOC presided over by Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar. It was co-chaired by NCOC national coordinator Lt Gen Hamood Uz Zaman Khan.

The forum expressed satisfaction over the procurement process of Covid-19 vaccine and its ubsequent rollout process to the federating units. One million Sino­pharm vaccines purchased by Pakistan had been received and distributed among the provinces, it was told.

The NCOC asked the provinces to ensure that vaccination targets set by the centre are vigorously pursued.

Officials of the Ministry of National Health Services said that a total of 2.56 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine had so far reached Pakistan from China which also donated 1.5m doses of Sinopharm. They added that 500,000 doses of Sinopharm and 60,000 doses of CanSino arrived in Pakistan on Friday.

Meanwhile, the country reported 5,234 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 678,165. The death toll climbed to 14,613 after 83 more people succumbed to the deadly disease on Friday — 51 in Punjab, 19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, two in Sindh and one in Balochistan.

According to the NCOC data, total active Covid-19 cases across the country stood at 56,347 as 1,931 people recovered from the deadly virus over the past 24 hours.

The maximum ventilators for Covid-19 patients were occupied in four major areas — 70 per cent in Multan, 50pc in Islamabad, 60pc in Gujranwala and 67pc in Lahore. Around 421 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country, while no patient was on ventilator in Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan.

As many as 50,170 tests were conducted across the country on Thursday — 8,913 in Sindh, 23,039 in Punjab, 8,574 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 7,872 in Islamabad, 590 in Balochistan, 272 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 910 in Azad Kashmir.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2021