ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Sunday said over 25 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been administered in the country and all major cities were aiming to vaccinate 40pc of the eligible population by the end of August.

Moreover, 2,819 new cases and 45 deaths were reported in a single day, with the positivity ratio calculated at 6.32pc. The overall death toll has surpassed the figure of 23,000.

It was worth mentioning that there are over 100 million vaccine-eligible people in the country and the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) was aiming to inoculate 70 million by the end of current year.

“Total vaccinations carried out so far now exceed two and a half crores. Total number of people vaccinated has now crossed 2 crores. Further acceleration being planned for August. By end August all major cities target is to have at least 40% of eligible population vaccinated,” Mr Umar, who also heads the NCOC, tweeted on Sunday.

The forum claimed that over 500,000 people were being vaccinated daily, with 25,432,173 doses having been administered across the country.

According to the NCOC data, 45 patients breathed their last while 2,819 more contracted coronavirus in the last 24 hours. The number of casualties recorded since the outbreak of the pandemic has reached 23,016 whereas active cases, which were around 31,000 in May, have risen to 55,720 as of July 25. Similarly, an increase in occupancy rate of ventilators and oxygenated beds has also been seen.

According to data, 38pc vents were in use in Islamabad, followed by Lahore, 20pc and Karachi, 15pc.

Data on oxygenated beds showed that the occupancy ratio in Gilgit stood at 50pc, Karachi, 46pc and Muzaffarabad, 28pc.

So far, 1,004,694 people have been found infected by the virus throughout the country, out of whom 925,958 have recovered.

On Saturday, the NCOC decided not to allow unvaccinated people over the age of 18 to undertake domestic air travel from August 1.

“Restriction is for domestic air travel and people travelling abroad from Pakistan or coming to the country are exempted from the restriction. The directive is also not applicable on link flights if these are within 72 hours of arrival or departure,” the NCOC document said, adding that partially vaccinated individuals, foreign nationals, Pakistani nationals having documentary proof of vaccination abroad and patients who are clinically advised against inoculation due to risk of reaction are also exempted.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2021