LAHORE – The first shipment of the coronavirus will reach Karachi by February 1 and it will be administered to the frontline workers in the first phase.
The vaccine doses will be started giving to the health workers during the first week of the coming month.
Availability of free-of-cost vaccine seems to have been assured for Pakistan as Covax – an alliance that has been set up by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi), Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and World Health Organization (WHO) in April 2020 – announced that it will acquire 150 million jabs in the first quarter and two billion doses by the end of 2021.
Out of the two billions doses, 1.3 billion will be sent to 90 lower-income economies, brightening the chances for Pakistan to receive the vaccine during the first quarter.
Covax has promised to provide vaccine for 20 per cent of Pakistan’s population.
At least 23 people lost their lives due to the novel coronavirus infection while 1,629 fresh cases have reported in the last 24 hours, National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said Monday.
With new 23 fatalities, the death toll has surged to 11,318 while the number of confirmed cases stands at 534,041.
In the past 24 hours, as many as 2,414 patients have recovered from the virus in a day; total recoveries have recorded at 488,903.
As of Monday, the total count of active cases is 33,820. The national positivity ratio is recorded at nearly 4 percent.
At least 241,200 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 154,017 in Punjab 65,532 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 40,815 in Islamabad, 18,750 in Balochistan, 8,825 in Azad Kashmir, and 4,902 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Moreover, 4,568 individuals have died due to the novel virus in Punjab 3,892 in Sindh, 1,839 in KP, 468 in Islamabad, 256 in Azad Kashmir, 193 in Balochistan, and 102 in Gilgit Baltistan.
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