ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday launched a video aimed at educating and convincing citizens about the importance of Covid-19 inoculation and removing their misconceptions.

On the other hand, 56 deaths and 1,239 new cases were reported in a single day, with the positivity rate calculated at 3.4 per cent.

According to data of the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS), 389,385 doses were given on June 12, taking the overall tally of vaccines administered to 11,085,787.

The video, which the NCOC made in collaboration with Jazz, informs people that vaccination is the only way Covid-19 could be avoided and those who had contracted the virus were now regretting why they did not get the vaccine.

In the message, a person speaks about the difficulty he faced while remaining in quarantine but he had to out of fear that someone in the family might get infected as well.

A woman says that when her sister’s test came back positive, her father had already developed Covid-19 symptoms.

An elderly woman speaks about the value of a mouthful of air for someone gasping for a breath.

A middle aged person narrates his ordeal when he contracted the virus, saying he experienced a sudden fever and did not know what to do. In the same way, a youngster, who got infected, said though his symptoms were mild, it took two months for his mother, who had also tested positive, to recover.

In the video, the interviewees are asked what would have been their decision if a vaccine was available at that time, all of them said they would have opted for vaccination and would not have had second thoughts.

The video then sends out a message that the vaccine had revived hopes, which should not be ruined.

Meanwhile, as per the NCOC data, 56 patients breathed their last from the virus and 1,239 people got infected in the last 24 hours.

As many as 329 serious patients were on ventilators. The most vents were in use in Multan where the occupancy ratio was 45pc, followed by Lahore and Bahawalpur at 24pc and Peshawar at 20pc. The most oxygenated beds were in use in Gilgit and Abbottabad where the percentage stood at 30 whereas in Multan and Karachi, 26pc beds were occupied.

The number of active cases was counted at 42,290 with 2,891 patients under treatment in hospitals across the country.

Coronavirus was detected in China in December 2019 which then started spreading to other countries. Pakistan closed its borders and took a number of steps to stop the transmission. The first case of Covid-19 was reported in the country in the last week of February last year.

On March 13, the first meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), comprising top civil and military officials, was held to discuss the crisis which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation.

Prime Minister Imran Khan presided over the NSC meeting and directed the relevant authorities to devise a comprehensive strategy to prevent the spread of the virus.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2021