Zubair Qureshi
Terming Pakistan’s response to Covid-19 as exemplary since the outbreak of the pandemic in February two years ago (2020), the World Health Organization (WHO) has credited the country for showing significant progress in all sectors— from Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions (NPIs) to countrywide vaccination drive.
WHO Representative in Pakistan, Dr Palitha Mahipala at a briefing organized for the media persons at the WHO country office, Friday, reviewed the efforts by the federal and the provincial governments to contain the pandemic and restrict it from further spreading on a wider scale. It was made through coordination between various stakeholders, he said.
He said that daily vaccination has crossed the 2.4 million doses landmark which is a big achievement while the 190 million population of the country is partially vaccinated. Moreover, said, Dr Mahipala 90 million persons have been completely vaccinated which again is a healthy sign showing 58 percent eligible population have been vaccinated focusing on the population of 12-year and above.
Thousands of tests are being conducted on a daily basis while the health workers are busy in contact tracing, administering doses and launching awareness campaigns in far and wide of the country, he said.
WHO Representative paid tributes to the health workers and the National Command & Operation Centre (NCOC) for giving a swift response by introducing smart lockdowns and micro-smart lockdowns in coronavirus hotspots and imposing certain restrictions that helped restrict the risk of virus spread.
