ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) has decided to relax Covid-19 restrictions in eight cities with the highest vaccination percentage.
This was stated by NCOC head and Planning Minister Asad Umar in a tweet on Wednesday.
“NCOC has decided to relax restrictions in 8 cities with the highest level of vaccination. These include Quetta, Peshawar, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit and Skardu,” Asad Umar said on Twitter while warning that new restrictions would be imposed from next month on people who are not fully vaccinated.
Later, briefing the media persons, the minister for planning said that it has been decided to relax restrictions from Friday in eight cities where forty percent of the population aged fifteen and above has been vaccinated against the disease. These cities include Skardu, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad, Mirpur, Islamabad, Quetta, Peshawar and Rawalpindi.
Umar said the only way out of the Covid-19 pandemic is to vaccinate as many citizens as possible. “Therefore as part of the strategy to reward citizens & cities which vaccinate, there will be higher restrictions on cities with low levels of vaccination & on citizens who are not vaccinated,” he said.
He said indoor gatherings of three hundred people and outdoor gatherings of one thousand people are now being allowed in these cities. In addition, the shrines and cinema halls are being opened in these cities for the fully vaccinated people.
He said indoor restaurants and wedding halls in these cities will now also remain open seven days a week. The minister said other cities will continue to face previous restrictions by the 15th of next month.
In his remarks on the occasion, Special Assistant on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan said the process of vaccination is being taken forward successfully. He said a total of 12 percent of the population across the country has been vaccinated against Covid-19. He was confident that the vaccination will get further momentum in the month of October.
Dr Faisal Sultan said the vaccination has now also been opened for those aged twelve and above in order to ensure uninterrupted functioning of the education sector. He once again made it clear that the anti-Covid vaccine is totally safe and carries no risks.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has achieved another milestone of administering more than 80 million Covid-19 doses. According to official statistics as of September 29, over 50 million people have received the first dose of coronavirus vaccine. The number of fully vaccinated individuals has surpassed 20.7 million mark.
According to the NCOC, the country reported 52 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the national death tally to 27,690. The number of new cases remained 1,560 and the daily positivity rate stands at 3.19 percent.
With 2,970 recoveries in the same period, the tally for recoveries now stands at 1,167,189, NCOC’s data showed. The number of active cases remained 48,506. Among the active cases, 3,948 patients are under critical care.
