NCOC decides to launch door-to-door Covid vaccination drive

ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has changed its strategy regarding imposition and lifting of smart lockdown in coronavirus hit areas across the country, ARY News reported on Monday.

According to sources, the NCOC in its new strategy has decided to launch a Covid-19 vaccination campaign in smart lockdown areas and announced that lockdown would be lifted on 100 per cent vaccination of people living in the virus-hit areas.

The forum also decided to vaccinate each and every person residing in the smart lockdown areas, sources said.

It further added that mobile vaccination teams would be deployed in the smart lockdown areas to carry out door-to-door vaccination campaigns.

In an alarming situation, the COVID positivity ratio in five districts of the country has gone beyond 10 percent including Karachi and Islamabad in wake of SOPs violations during Eid ul Adha.

According to sources in the national ministry for health, an increasing trend in COVID-19 cases has been witnessed after Eid and the authorities fear a further spike in COVID cases in the next week to an alarming level.

Karachi, according to sources, has reported the most positivity ratio in the country with 24.82 percent, followed by 19.76 percent in Muzaffarabad, 18.9 in Rawalpindi, 14.66 percent in Skardu, 12.41 percent in Peshawar, and 10.95 percent in Islamabad, the federal capital of the country.

In Gilgit Baltistan, the Gilgit area reported 2.99 percent COVID positivity while the Diamer district reported zero positivity. Mirpur area of Azad Jammu and Kashmir reported an 8.54 percent positivity ratio.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Abbottabad reported a ratio of COVID cases at 7.95 percent, followed by Nowshera 7.20 percent, Swabi 4.60 percent, Mardan 4.06 percent, Swat 2.06 percent, and zero positivity ratio in Charsadda.

Pakistan COVID-19 tally

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday shared that as many as 3,752 patients tested positive for COVID-19 while 32 people succumbed to the infection during the past 24 hours.

“Overall 49,947 tests were performed in the country during the past 24 hours,” the NCOC said as the positivity ratio stood at 7.51 percent.