ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday said that all vaccination centres in the country would remain open on Saturday (today).

In a tweet, the NCOC said that “together we will make Pakistan corona-free”.

The NCOC urged the masses to get themselves vaccinated as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, according to data released by the Ministry of National Health Services, 41.4 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered to people so far in the country.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said that Delta variant was the most contagious.

Positivity ratio stands at 7.76 per cent; 79 more people die of virus

“It is the dire need that people get themselves vaccinated as soon as possible and the vaccination drive will also be speeded up to avoid further spread of the deadly virus across the country,” he said.

“Almost one million doses are now being administered to the people daily,” he said, adding that as per the analysis of health experts, the fully vaccinated people were at the lowest risk of getting infected by the virus. “If the people have got first dose then they should walk in the vaccination centre after 28 days or four weeks to get their second dose,” he said.

He said the vaccines were only fully effective two to three weeks after the administration of the second dose and, therefore, the people should ensure to get their second dose of the vaccine as per schedule.

Meanwhile, as many as 79 deaths and 4619 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the country over the past 24 hours.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 59,504 tests were conducted on Thursday and the positivity ratio was 7.76 per cent.

The death toll due to the pandemic has now reached 24,266.

As many as 307 new Covid-19 cases were reported in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) over the last 24 hours. According to officials, two more patients died overnight taking the death toll to 307 in the region.

Sindh reported at least 1,783 new coronavirus cases over the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 407,875.

According to officials, 39 more patients died due to the deadly virus. As many as 2,229 patients were recovered overnight, taking the total patients recovered from the virus to 353,808.

In Balochistan, 54 more people contracted Covid-19 over last 24 hours, taking the total number of people infected with the virus to 30,468.

Officials said that no death was reported in the province from the deadly virus. So far, 332 patients have died due to Covid-19 in the province. As many as 29,409 patients have recovered from the virus in the province so far.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 20 more patients died due to Covid-19 over the last 24 hours.

According to the data, as many as 682 new cases were reported in the province over the last 24 hours.

Published in Dawn, August 14th, 2021