ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has expressed satisfaction over the measures the Sindh government has taken to stem the spread of coronavirus cases and advised all other provinces as well to ensure enforcement of Covid-related standard operating procedures on Eidul Azha.

As the total number of active cases across the country rose close to 50,000 for a fourth time since the beginning of the pandemic in February 2020, the NCOC also decided to keep vaccination centres closed only on the first day of Eid. Vaccination will resume on Thursday as per past routine since more consignments of Covid vaccine comprising two million doses arrived from China on July 19 and 20.

The NCOC meeting, which was chaired by federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, was earlier informed that as many as 550,000 people were inoculated against the deadly disease across the country on a daily basis.

According to official figures, as many as 37 Covid patients died during the past 24 hours. The number of active cases surged to 49,929 from 48,850 in a day, with detection of 2,145 more cases as around 1,029 fully recovered during this time. Currently, 2,896 patients were under treatment at different hospitals in the country.

As the number of active cases surged close to the 50,000 mark, it is worth mentioning that the country recorded such serious situation just weeks before or at the peak of the previous waves of coronavirus in Pakistan. Last year during the first wave, 49,965 and 108,642 active cases were recorded on June 2 and July 1, respectively. The second wave reached its peak when 49,780 active cases were recorded on Dec 1, 2020. During the third wave, 50,397 and 90,553 active cases were recorded on March 30 and April 30, respectively.

While during the current wave, the number of active cases has increased from 31,606 on June 29 to 49,929 on July 20, the peak is expected much early than witnessed during the previous waves, considering the factors of Delta variant and shopping spree before Eidul Azha.

As cases are rapidly increasing in Gilgit-Baltistan, the NCOC decided to send 500 oxygen cylinders and 30 ventilators to the area while other provinces were directed to ensure implementation of Covid-related SOPs.

While chairing the NCOC meeting, the minister urged the masses to get vaccinated at the earliest so that the ratio of hospitalisation could be decreased. He later posted a graph indicating a drop in number of hospitalisation in the UK and tweeted: “The UK is an excellent lesson of vaccination minimizing health impact of Covid. See the graphs below. Cases have risen in current wave in the UK at about the same rate as previous wave, but number of people needing hospitalization is much less due to high rate of vaccination achieved,” he tweeted.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2021