Eid restrictions yielding result as Punjab reports less than 1000 cases: Yasmin Rashid

LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Sunday said that strict restrictions during Eid has yielded positive results with overall cases in the province going below 1,000 mark as she urged citizens to continue to implement COVID SOPS despite a declining trend, ARY NEWS reported.

“More people are going out from hospitals after recovery than the arrival of infected patients,” she said adding that for the first time they have recorded less than 1,000 cases in the province after performing 28,973 tests in a day.

Dr Yasmin Rashid said that only 502 ventilator beds are currently being used out of the availability of 20,922 of them province-wide. “Out of 2,818 oxygen beds, we are currently using 818 of them,” she said.

The health minister stressed the need to wear masks and said that 72 per cent of people could avoid contracting the virus by adopting it.

She said that the government is improving its infrastructure to deal with the pandemic and besides increasing 2,000 beds in hospitals, they would provide oxygen generators to every hospital by next month. “Our prime focus is currently on the health sector in Punjab,” she said.

Dr Yasmin Rashid said that the COVID wave was averted in the country with the blessing of Almighty Allah and people should learn a lesson from its worst effects in India. “If precautions are not adopted then the situation could turn grave,” she warned while urging people to wear masks and maintain social distancing.

Read More: COVID-19 positivity ratio declines in Pakistan, recorded at 4.96%

She announced that the province would purchase additional COVID vaccines from its own resources from next month as they plan to operate vaccination centres round the clock.

“We will be operating six vaccination centres 24 hours a day from next week and plan to add six more afterwards,” the health minister said while sharing that CanSino, Sinopharm and Astra Zeneca are administered to people visiting the centres.

She further announced that vaccination at Lahore Press Club has also begun to facilitate the journalist community.