Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday directed the relevant authorities to assure the strict implementation of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) during the upcoming Eidul Fitr holidays.
The decision was taken at the meeting of the federal cabinet on Tuesday, wherein the attendees were briefed on the situation due to the infections and vaccinations.
The PM said that the people will be provided maximum relief in devising the annual budget. He said that the government will prioritise development projects concerning the masses.
He added that the development projects will help boost economic activities in the country and generate employment opportunities.
The meeting approved reducing the sentence of the prisoners by 90 days each. Those in attendance also deliberated on the proposals regarding the annual budget. The participants were also apprised about the strategy to overcome inflation.
The cabinet also approved deputing the army for assisting the civil administration to overcome Covid-19 pandemic, the inclusion of private sector in the taxation process, deputing production control member at the heavy industries, Taxila, and issuing commemoratory coin on the NED University completing its 100 years.
Earlier in the day, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that a significant improvement was seen in SOP compliance to control the spread of Covid-19 after the stronger enforcement measures including military deployment took place.
“National average compliance has doubled from 34 per cent on April 25 to 68 per cent on May 3,” he said in his tweet.
He also stressed the need to sustain and build on this compliance level especially till Eidul Fitr.
Moreover, Pakistan’s daily vaccinations crossed the 150,000 mark for the first time the previous day, Asad said in another tweet.
Planning and Development Minister Asad tweeted that as many as 164,000 people were administered the Covid-19 vaccine. Yesterday was the first day when people aged 40 years and above started getting jabs, he added.
Addressing a press conference earlier, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan said the government has signed deals for procurement of 30 million Covid vaccine doses.
He said 19 million doses will be received by June this year, clarifying that the government is not relying on donations but 90 per cent of the doses are being purchased.
The SAPM said that local packaging of single-dose CanSino vaccine is about to begin in the country. Three million doses of this vaccine will be prepared at the National Institute of Health per month, he added.
Pakistan has reported 161 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 837,523. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 18,310 on Tuesday.
According to the latest figures by the NCOC, 3,377 persons tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.
Punjab remains the worst-hit province in terms of deaths and cases followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Till now 8,683 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab 4,678 in Sindh, 3,423 in KP, 693 in Islamabad, 487 in Azad Kashmir, 239 in Balochistan, and 107 in GB.
Furthermore, 308,529 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Punjab, 286,521 in Sindh, 120,590 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 76,492 in Islamabad, 22,664 in Balochistan, 17,397 in Azad Kashmir and 5,330 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
Pakistan has so far conducted 11,965,682 coronavirus tests and 37,587 in the last 24 hours. 733,062 patients have recovered in the country whereas 5,326 patients are in critical condition.
With additional input from INP
