• NCOC says number of critical patients falls
• UNDP to reach out to 20m Pakistanis for vaccination awareness

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday announced that 1.2 million people had so far recovered from Covid-19 since the outbreak of the virus in the country in February last year.

On the other hand, aro­und 900 more people got inf­ected and 24 breathed their last in the last 24 hours.

According to data shared by the NCOC, the number of critical patients, which was around 6,000 in August, had fallen to around 2,000.

It said since February 2020, as many as 1,263,664 confir­med patients were detected, out of whom 1,208,438 have fully recovered and 28,252 lost their battle against the virus.

The data further said that 2,013 patients were in critical condition and were admitted to critical care units of hospitals.

A total of 20,151,188 tests have been conducted across the country.

Meanwhile, the latest figures showed that 24 patients died of Covid-19 and 893 more tested positive in the last 24 hours while the national positivity ratio, which was in double figures in August, stood at 1.69pc.

It is worth mentioning that on Oct 15, the NCOC lifted restrictions on one-day weekly closure of businesses and reopened cinemas and shrines for fully vaccinated people.

However, it kept non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) in place from Oct 16 till 31 in districts with high prevalence of coronavirus cases.

The forum also raised the number of guests attending indoor weddings from 200 to 300 and those participating in outdoor marriage events from 300 to 500. It further said that the NPIs would be reviewed at a meeting set for Oct 28.

UNDP vaccination awareness

The United Nations Develop­ment Programme (UNDP) has lau­n­ched #StopTheSpread — a Covid-19 project to increase awareness about how vaccinations saved lives.

An amount of $20 million from The Coca-Cola Foundation (TCCF) will be utilised to work with non-profit organisations in order to res­pond to the virus and its variants.

The programme aims to reach out to around 20 million Pakistanis in about a year through its various interventions.

Commenting on the initiative, TCCF president Saadia Madsbjerg said: “We are proud to use our resources to fund initiatives to help curb the spread of Covid-19 around the world, including this grant, to support UNDP Pakistan’s prevention efforts that focus on communities with limited access to health programmes.”

Programme Manager, Youth Empowerment Programme, at UNDP Laura Sheridan said: “We have worked together to design the project on international best practices. We are aiming to impact thousands of people by the end of this campaign to not just get vaccinated but also actively guide others to follow the NCOC registration process till the point citizens have their vaccination certificates.”

On Friday (Oct 15), Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, advised people to get inoculated at the earliest and shared results of the Gallup Pakistan survey.

In his tweet, the minister said: “According to results of the survey, as many as 86pc of the people believe that Covid-19 will be controlled soon. We are thankful to the nation from the core of our hearts for their confidence on us. But, it will only be possible if people go for vaccination as soon as possible otherwise there is a high risk of Covid-19 spreading with the advent of winter.”

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2021