The COVID-19 crisis in Pakistan may quickly spin out of control after the country reached the terrifying milestone of 90,000 active COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Pakistan’s active COVID-19 cases reached 91,046 today, with 4,075 new cases identified in the previous 24 hours.
This is the country’s highest number of active cases since April 29, when 91,547 individuals were reported infected with the virus.
On Monday, Pakistani officials tested 59,943 individuals for the virus, with 4,075 of them testing positive. When compared to Monday, the COVID-19 positivity rate has dropped somewhat from 7% to 6.79 per cent.
Pakistan’s death toll reached 25,000 yesterday. In the last 24 hours, ninety-one individuals have died as a result of the virus, bringing the overall death toll to 25,094.
The overall number of cases has risen to 1,131,659, with a total recovery at 1,015,519 dollars.
Another concerning element for Pakistan, given the COVID-19 pandemic, is the number of critical cases, which has risen to 5,513 in the past 24 hours, an increase of 123.
In terms of vaccination statistics, the NCOC said that 585,104 single doses of the vaccine were given to individuals in a single day on Monday, while 379,809 people had their second vaccine injections.
Pakistan has given 46,456,077 doses of the vaccine thus far.
The UAE government issued a new set of rules for visitors to the country on Tuesday. Passengers from Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and Nepal must undergo PCR testing before entering the country, according to the directives, which take effect today.
In addition, travellers must appear at the airport six hours (up from four hours) prior to departure to undertake the quick PCR test.
All airlines are required to follow the guidelines, according to the UAE government’s notice.
Islamabad airport starts conducting rapid PCR tests
According to a report, the Islamabad International Airport (IIAP) began performing quick PCR testing for travellers wanting to fly to the UAE on Tuesday.
According to the article, the Islamabad International Airport is offering state-of-the-art facilities to travellers with the help of genuine labs.
Every day, travellers travelling from Pakistan to Abu Dhabi and Sharjah are subjected to quick PCR testing performed on the grounds of the airports. This service is also offered in Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Multan, and Sialkot international airports. Dr Irtaza, who was dealing with travellers waiting for their PCR test results at the IIAP, stated, All the labs are located within the premises of these airports.
Airlines have signed arrangements with Pakistani labs to perform airport testing.
The UAE revised its travel policy for Pakistani visitors a little over a week ago, requiring them to undergo a quick PCR test four hours before departure.
Thousands of passengers wanting to return to the UAE were kept stuck due to the lack of testing facilities at airports.
According to the Khaleej Times, Pakistani airlines were in talks with healthcare professionals in the country to set up quick PCR testing facilities at airports so that travellers travelling to the UAE would not have any issues.
On August 6, two flights from Karachi to Dubai took off, but the airlines had to unload 70 people owing to the PCR test requirement not being met.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has asked the government to intervene and ask the UAE to accept the findings of antigen testing rather than quick PCR tests.
