ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has prolonged the virus-induced restrictions announced earlier this month until February 15, as the fifth wave of the pandemic, driven by the Omicron strain of new coronavirus, continues unabated across the country.
After two days of relatively low numbers, the NCOC, which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s synchronised plan to restrict the coronavirus spread, reported the single-day total of new Covid cases jumped past 7,000.
According to the report, the NCOC held a meeting to assess coronavirus-induced standard operating procedures (SOPs) and decided to keep the restrictions in place until February 15. The restrictions include a total prohibition on all indoor events in places where the positive ratio is greater than 10%.
The NCOC had earlier warned that outdoor events in Covid hotspots would be limited to 300 fully vaccinated people. Vaccination has also been made compulsory for all students above the age of 12. According to the report, half of the student body under the age of 12 would attend classes.
According to the NCOC, 52 percent of the population was vaccinated against the infectious disease. According to a statement, there were 153.6 million persons who were eligible for vaccination, with 83 million of them had been vaccinated. According to the NCOC, 23.5 million persons had partially vaccinated.
In Islamabad, the highest immunisation rate was recorded, with 79 percent of the eligible population receiving anti-Covid injections. Punjab had 59 percent, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan had 47 percent, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) had 46 percent, Balochistan had 45 percent, and Sindh had 43 percent.
Meanwhile, according to the NCOC’s daily bulletin, 7,539 people tested positive for the infectious disease in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases to 91,854, the highest level since September 10, 2021. It went on to say that 1,240 people were in critical condition.
According to the forum, the national positivity ratio for the previous 24 hours was 11.91 percent. It was the greatest level since April 2021, with a positivity rate of more than 10% for the seventh day in a row. According to the latest information, 25 people have died in the last 24 hours.
According to the NCOC, the majority of the new cases (2,488) were discovered in Sindh, followed by 1,842 in Punjab and 1,446 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). According to the forum, Sindh had the largest number of deaths (12), followed by Punjab (7), and K-P (6).
