• Over 100 people die on fifth consecutive day
• 100pc beds allocated for Covid-19 patients in use in Swabi

ISLAMABAD: While coronavirus-related deaths in the country have surpassed the figure of 16,000, number of active cases has swelled to 79,108 with 4,984 patients admitted to hospitals.

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided on Saturday to start vaccination of people in the 50-59 age group from Wednesday, April 21.

The data shared by the NCOC showed that with over 100 deaths for five continuous days, the number of overall deaths has risen to 16,094.

Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Sherry Rehman also mentioned this in a tweet. She said it was the fifth straight day when more than 100 deaths were reported and the positivity ratio reached 7.6 per cent.

She pointed out that considering its population, the country had the lowest ratio of vaccination in Asia.

“It seems that Pakistan will take a decade to vaccinate 75pc of its population,” Ms Rehman said.

The data showed that 112 deaths and 4,976 new cases were reported in a single day. There were 520 ventilators in use of Covid-19 patients across the country. Over 80pc ventilators allocated for Covid-19 patients were in use in three cities of Punjab i.e. Gujranwala, Lahore and Multan and 55pc in Khyber Pakhtun­khwa’s city Mardan.

The data showed a dismal situation of oxygenated beds as in Swabi 100pc beds were in use while Charsadda’s 89pdc and Gujranwala’s 85pc beds were in use. Only 22pc of the beds were vacant in Peshawar.

The number of active cases surged to 79,108 as of April 17. However, Pakistan conducted another highest number of tests in a day i.e. 65,279.

So far a total of 750,158 cases have been detected and 654,956 people have defeated the deadly virus.

Vaccination

“Decision taken in today’s NCOC meeting to start vaccination of people in the age group of 50 to 59 from Wednesday the 21st of April. Would once again encourage everyone to register for the vaccination,” federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar tweeted.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2021