Observer Report
Islamabad
Covid-19 claimed 63 more lives while 2,260 new infections were reported during the last 24 hours in the country, said the National Command and Operation Centre NCOC) on Saturday.
With these fresh deaths and infections, the death toll has reached 9,816, while the national tally of cases now currently stands at 469,482. The total count of active cases now stands at 39,177. As per NCOC statistics, 209,429 cases have been reported in Sindh, 135,141 in Punjab, 56,875 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 18,061 in Balochistan, 39,981 in the federal capital Islamabad, 4,847 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 8,148 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
A total of 3,462 patients have died of coronavirus in Sindh, 3,858 in Punjab, 1,596 in KP, 404 in Islamabad, 181 in Balochistan, 101 in GB and 214 in AJK.
A total of 316 Covid-19 patients are put on ventilators in different medical facilities across the country, whereas 2,840 patients are currently admitted to 615 hospitals.
Meanwhile, another Chinese pharmaceutical company has expressed interest in clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine in Pakistan. Sources privy to the development said that another Chinese company named Zafai Longcom has contacted the Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan and expressed its desire for clinical trials of Covid-19 in Pakistan.
The Chinese company has requested the DRAP for cooperation in this regard. A letter sent to the DRAP said that Zafai Longcom is a local pharmaceutical company in the Chinese province of Inoue, which has developed the corona vaccine in collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and now wants clinical trials of possible vaccines in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, all the passengers of Pakistan International Airlines arrived in Xian, China, from Islamabad on Saturday were tested negative, making it the third consecutive flight of the national flag carrier which did not bring any case of Covid-19.
“So far, three PIA flights have arrived in Xian from Islamabad during last three weeks and all the passengers coming on these flights from Pakistan were tested negative after their arrival,” Qadir Bux Sangi, PIA Country Manager for China said on Saturday.
Under the directives of its CEO Arshad Malik, the PIA decided to implement strict coronavirus precautionary measures amid rising cases of the virus in the country. It was the result of these measures that no Covid-19 case was detected on PIA’s Islamabad-Xian flights for three consecutive weeks, he said.
