Cannot afford Covid trend spiraling like in India, Umar says

ISLAMABAD: The federal planning and development minister Asad Umer said on Saturday the Covid situation this year has been considerably worse than what the country faced the previous year referring to the menace the third wave has brought in, ARY News reported.

Speaking exclusively to ARY News program Aiteraz Hai, the federal minister said Pakistan cannot afford to spiral into the Covid crisis like that in India and said the country had to roll out stringent measures to avoid such a downward spiral.

Of the present lockdown situation coinciding with the Eid holidays, which is likely to end by May 16, Umar said a complete lifting of the lockdown is not likely but there will be some relaxation nevertheless.

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He also said that on May 18 there will be a review session to assess the statistics until then and based on its results the National Command Operation Center (NCOC) will decide what to do with the education sector.

Experts have noted the vaccination drive has helped in curbing the Covid incidence, Umar said and added that all the cities nationwide are expanding their capacity to jab more and more people.

He said after Eid holidays, the vaccination drive will be commenced for people above 30-year of age.

Noting the arrival of new Covid vaccines from the COVAX treaty, he said Pakistan will receive 40 million doses against Covid and by June this year 10 million will have arrived already.