The death toll from COVID-19 in Pakistan surpassed 25,000 on Monday morning.
The National Command and Operation Centre recorded 80 fatalities in the previous 24 hours on Monday morning, bringing the total to 25,003.
After conducting 53,881 tests, the NCOC reported an additional 3,772 positive COVID-19 cases in the previous 24 hours.
The positivity rate now stands at 7%.
Pakistan currently has 1,127,584 cases, with 89,919 active cases, 1,012,662 recovered cases, and 25,003 fatalities.
In Pakistan, COVID-19 infections are on the decline, with 3,628 new cases recorded on average each day. That’s 62 percent of the top, which was reached on June 17 with the highest daily average ever recorded.
So far, Pakistan has given out at least 46,456,077 doses of COVID-19 vaccination. Assuming that each individual requires two doses, it would be enough to vaccinate approximately 10.7% of the country’s population.
Pakistan gave an average of 594,775 dosages per day over the latest week reported. At this pace, administering enough dosages for another 10% of the population will take another 73 days.
Sindh extends schools closure
Sindh agreed on Sunday to keep schools closed for longer because of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the state.
Sindh’s provincial administration had already declared that schools would be shuttered till August 30.
Syed Murad Ali Shah, the Chief Minister of Sindh, stated in a statement that teachers, employees, and parents should all be vaccinated before schools reopen.
“It has been decided to reopen universities, colleges, and schools after 10 days. They would be opened on August 30,” he had said.
Schools will reopen with just 50% of pupils, according to Sindh Education Minister Sardar Shah, while educational institutions with a 100% vaccination record will be permitted to return with 100% student strength.
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.
Read more: https://pakobserver.net/covid/
