ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Pakistan on Thursday recorded an alarming transmission rate of 10.15 per cent as it reported 3,946 new infections of the coronavirus after conducting 38,858 tests — the highest since July 2.
The country is experiencing a sharp rise in Covid-19 infections. With new cases, the total caseload for Pakistan has increased to 640,998 cases in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, deaths increased by 63 to 14,028.
Recoveries increased by 2,747 to 588,975, or 91.9 per cent of total infections, the government portal showed.
There are currently 37,985 active cases of Covid-19 in the country, with 2,587 of them are in critical condition, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said.
Meanwhile, Punjab reported 2,571 new infections after testing 17,153 samples, receiving back a positivity ratio of 14.9 per cent — the highest since June 12. The densely populated province now has 205,314 confirmed cases of contagious disease.
The province also reported 51 deaths due to coronavirus-related complications, raising total casualties to 6,099.
There were 953 new recoveries recorded, leaving 179,895 fully recovered, and 19,320 active cases of the disease.
Lahore, one of the coronavirus hotspots identified by the provincial government, reported a positivity rate of 18.14 per cent after 1,366 of 7,532 tests conducted in the last 24 hours returned positive.
GOVT PURCHASES CHINESE JABS:
Earlier this week, the government announced it has purchased more than 1 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm and CanSino Biologics vaccines, the country’s first purchase from any manufacturer having previously relied on donations.
The shots are due to be delivered this month, with talks underway for another 7 million doses from the same companies.
“We have purchased 1 million and 60,000 doses of Sinopharm and CanSino vaccines,” Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said at the time. “We will be receiving the consignment before the end of March.”
“We want them to deliver that 7 million by the end of April, but they have not confirmed this yet. They might have some supply issues.”
The government is currently vaccinating frontline healthcare workers and citizens over the age of 60 free of charge using over 1 million Sinopharm doses donated by China in February.
Pakistan has so far relied on such donations and on allocations from the World Health Organisation-backed COVAX/GAVI scheme for poorer nations.
The first COVAX/GAVI batch of up to 4 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine had been due to be delivered to Pakistan this month, Umar said, adding it was delayed due to the issues the vaccine was facing worldwide.
PRIVATE-SECTOR VACCINE IMPORTS:
Pakistan, one of the first countries in the world to allow private imports of Covid-19 vaccines for sale on the open market, has already received a batch of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, and also expects to get a separate batch of CanSino this week for commercial sale.
The government expects richer individuals will buy their own vaccination shots through this route, but the commercial administration of vaccines is yet to begin as the government settles pricing issues.
Transparency International has raised concerns about the private sale of vaccines in a letter to the prime minister, saying it will cause inequality and open the door to corruption.
The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has proposed a price of Rs8,449 per pack of two injections of Sputnik V and Rs4,225 per injection for Convidecia, which will be CanSino’s trade name.
According to a mechanism approved by the government, the trade price for an imported vaccine will add a 40 per cent mark up to the landed cost, with another 15 per cent for retailers or hospitals.
