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	<title>COVID-19 &#8211; Pakistan Today</title>
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	<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk</link>
	<description>Latest News from Pakistan</description>
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		<title>NCOC to lift Covid-19 restrictions from cities with at least 60pc vaccination rate</title>
		<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/10/30/ncoc-to-roll-back-covid-19-restrictions-from-cities-with-60pc-vaccination-rate/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Desk]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Oct 2021 15:39:39 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[HEADLINES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NATIONAL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[restrictions]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=155893</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/57102258_303-150x150.jpeg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" />The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday announced that it will roll back all COVID-19 related restrictions from cities with at least 60 per cent vaccinated population.   The decision was made in a meeting of the NCOC chaired by the Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar. According to the [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/57102258_303-150x150.jpeg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" /><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday announced that it will roll back all COVID-19 related restrictions from cities with at least 60 per cent vaccinated population.  </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The decision was made in a meeting of the NCOC chaired by the Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to the NCOC, cities where at least 60 per cent of the population has been vaccinated include Islamabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Gilgit and Mirpur. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Similarly, in Rawalpindi, Skardu, Hunza, Peshawar, Jhelum and some other cities 40 to 60 per cent of the population has been vaccinated against Covid-19. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In cities where the vaccination rate is higher than 60 per cent all virus-related curbs have been abolished including restrictions on marriage ceremonies, social gatherings, businesses, indoor dining and sports activities. Moreover, in such cities all public transport will be allowed to function with an occupancy level of 100 per cent.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, in the rest of the cites, prevailing Covid-19 restrictions on marriage ceremonies, gatherings and sports activities will remain in force, at least till November 15. Public transport will be allowed to function with a maximum occupancy level of 80 per cent in these cities.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The NCOC will review its decision again on November 12.</span></p>
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		<title>Schools, education institutions to reopen with 100 pc attendance from Monday</title>
		<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/10/09/schools-education-institutions-to-reopen-with-100-pc-attendance-from-monday/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Mian Abrar]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sat, 09 Oct 2021 13:25:40 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[NATIONAL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Federal government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Open]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[schools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[students]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=152711</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Downloader.la-614c1f69ec24b-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" />ISLAMABAD: The federal government has announced to reopen public and private educational institutions with 100 percent attendance from Monday (October 11). According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, the decisions to this affect had been taken in the meeting at National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). As per [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Downloader.la-614c1f69ec24b-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p class="p1">ISLAMABAD: The federal government has announced to reopen public and private educational institutions with 100 percent attendance from Monday (October 11).</p>
<p class="p1">According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, the decisions to this affect had been taken in the meeting at National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).</p>
<p class="p1">As per the notification, all educational institutions working under the ambit of Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) and Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority (PEIRA) shall continue with 100 percent attendance with effect from October 11,2021 till further orders and with conditions.</p>
<p class="p1">According to the conditions, the vaccination against COVID-19 is mandatory for all student of 12 years and above, to protect against COVID-19 and provide safety as well as improved immunity.</p>
<p class="p1">For the age group of 12-18 years only Pfizer vaccine is being administered through Mobile Vaccination Teams (MVTs) and all COVID Vaccination Centres (CVCs), completely free of cost where dedicated counters for students should be established.</p>
<p class="p1">There should be no change of date for students’ vaccination as announced earlier i.e. partial vaccination (first dose) by 31st October 2021 and full vaccination by 30th November, 2021.</p>
<p class="p1">The compliance of COVID-19 SoPs including wearing of masks, hand washing, temperature checking and others should be observed without any compromise.</p>
<p class="p1">All Heads of Institutions are responsible to submit certificate regarding 100 percent vaccination of the all teaching and non-teaching staff (if applicable) and all students (12 years and above) of their respective school.</p>
<p class="p1">All institutions should operate according to already notified regular timings (Mon-Fri) while every Saturday should be observed as Vaccination day as per directions of NCOC.</p>
<p class="p1">It is added that mobile vaccination teams (MVTs) should be visiting all institutions with students’ population of 12 years and above and where needed Saturdays would be fully utilized for the same.</p>
<p class="p1">All concerned Area Education officers should ensure the compliance of all the above stated direction in true letter and spirit in FDE educational institutions.</p>
<p class="p1">Teams of District Administration may visit randomly to check the status of staff vaccination and for necessary action accordingly at private educational institutions. No institution is exempted from subject matter.</p>
<p class="p1">All Private Educational Institutions are directed to ensure compliance of government policy in true letter and spirit.</p>
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		<title>Merck pill breakthrough raises hopes of preventing COVID deaths</title>
		<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/10/01/merck-pill-breakthrough-raises-hopes-of-preventing-covid-deaths/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Agencies]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 01 Oct 2021 15:32:43 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[HEADLINES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NATIONAL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[deaths]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[merck]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pill]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vaccine]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=151434</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[A pill developed by US drugmaker Merck could half the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk of contracting severe Covid-19, with experts hailing it as a potential breakthrough in how the virus is treated. If it gets authorization, molnupiravir, which is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A pill developed by US drugmaker Merck could half the chances of dying or being hospitalized for those most at risk of contracting severe Covid-19, with experts hailing it as a potential breakthrough in how the virus is treated.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If it gets authorization, molnupiravir, which is designed to introduce errors into the genetic code of the virus, would be the first oral antiviral medication for Covid-19.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics plan to seek US emergency use authorization for the pill as soon as possible and to make regulatory applications worldwide.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#8220;This is going to change the dialogue around how to manage Covid-19,&#8221; Merck Chief Executive Robert Davis told Reuters.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Current treatment options include Gilead Sciences Inc&#8217;s antiviral remdesivir and generic steroid dexamethasone, although both are generally only given once a patient has already been hospitalized.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#8220;An oral antiviral that can impact hospitalization risk to such a degree would be game changing,&#8221; Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Existing treatments are &#8220;cumbersome and logistically challenging to administer. A simple oral pill would be the opposite of that,&#8221; Adalja added.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Due to the positive results, which sent Merck&#8217;s shares up more than 9 per cent in early New York trading, the Phase 3 trial is being stopped early at the recommendation of outside monitors.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Shares of Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna dropped by nearly 3 per cent and 10 per cent respectively, moves Michael Yee, a biotechnology analyst at Jefferies, said indicated investors believe &#8220;people will be less afraid of Covid-19 and less inclined to get vaccines if there is a simple pill that can treat Covid-19&#8221;.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pfizer and Swiss pharmaceuticals group Roche are racing to develop an easy-to-administer antiviral pill for Covid-19, but so far only antibody cocktails which have to be given intravenously are approved for non-hospitalized patients.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A planned interim analysis of 775 patients in Merck&#8217;s study looked at hospitalizations or deaths. It found that 7.3 per cent of those given molnupiravir were hospitalized and none had died by 29 days after treatment, compared with 14.1 per cent of placebo patients. There were eight deaths among placebo patients.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#8220;Antiviral treatments that can be taken at home to keep people with Covid-19-19 out of the hospital are critically needed,” Wendy Holman, Ridgeback&#8217;s CEO, said in a statement.</span></p>
<p><b>&#8216;WORK WITH ALACRITY&#8217;</b></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Scientists welcomed the potential new treatment to help prevent serious illness from the virus, which has killed almost 5 million people around the world.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">&#8220;The availability of a well-tolerated, effective oral antiviral will be particularly useful in supplementing vaccination as a means to reduce the proportion of patients needing hospital care,&#8221; Penny Ward, visiting professor in pharmaceutical medicine at King’s College London, said.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In the trial, which enrolled patients around the world, molnupiravir was taken every 12 hours for five days.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The study enrolled patients with laboratory-confirmed mild-to-moderate COVID-19, who had symptoms for no more than five days. All patients had at least one risk factor associated with poor disease outcome, such as obesity or older age.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Merck said viral sequencing done so far shows molnupiravir is effective against all variants of the coronavirus, including highly transmissible Delta.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It said rates of adverse events were similar for both molnupiravir and placebo patients, but did not give details.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Merck has said data shows molnupiravir is not capable of inducing genetic changes in human cells, but men enrolled in its trials have to abstain from heterosexual intercourse or agree to use contraception. Women of child-bearing age cannot be pregnant and also have to use birth control.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Merck said it expects to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of 2021, with more coming next year.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The company has a U.S. government contract to supply 1.7 million courses of molnupiravir at a price of $700 per course.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Davis said Merck has similar agreements with other governments, and is in talks with more. Merck said it plans a tiered pricing approach based on country income criteria.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Merck has also agreed to license the drug to several India-based generic drugmakers, which would be able to supply the treatment to low- and middle-income countries.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Molnupiravir is also being studied in a Phase 3 trial for preventing coronavirus infection in people exposed to the virus.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Merck officials said it is unclear how long the FDA review will take, although Dean Li, head of Merck&#8217;s research labs, said &#8220;They are going to try to work with alacrity on this&#8221;.</span></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		<title>Imran urges D8 states to mobilise resources for tackling Covid effects</title>
		<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/04/08/imran-urges-d8-states-to-mobilise-resources-for-tackling-covid-effects/</link>
					<comments>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/04/08/imran-urges-d8-states-to-mobilise-resources-for-tackling-covid-effects/#comments</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Staff Report]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 08 Apr 2021 15:51:40 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[HEADLINES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NATIONAL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Top Headlines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[D8 Summit]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PM Imran]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=128836</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PM-Imran-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" />ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday urged the D8 countries to mobilise resources to tackle the economic and health costs of the coronavirus pandemic. While virtually addressing the 10th D8 summit in Dhaka, he said that harnessing technology, promoting innovation and investing in youth education, skills and training was an urgent imperative. This year’s [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PM-Imran-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p><strong>ISLAMABAD:</strong> Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday urged the D8 countries to mobilise resources to tackle the economic and health costs of the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p>While virtually addressing the 10th D8 summit in Dhaka, he said that harnessing technology, promoting innovation and investing in youth education, skills and training was an urgent imperative.</p>
<p>This year’s theme of the conference was “Partnership for a Transformative World: Harnessing the Power of Youth and Technology.”</p>
<p>He told the summit that Pakistan was pursuing initiatives and programmes such as Kamyab Naujawan, Hunarmand Pakistan, youth entrepreneurship scheme and Digital Pakistan.</p>
<p>The prime minister said that because of the inter-connectedness of the countries and economic, social and environmental vulnerabilities created by this interconnectedness, the coronavirus pandemic had caused death of over 2.9 million people and more than 250 million people had become unemployed and trillions of dollars were lost as a result of the global economic contraction.</p>
<p>The prime minister said that the coronavirus had taken a heavy toll on poor countries and also inequality had been accentuated within the countries and between the rich and poor countries. The developing countries were not only faced with the dilemma of saving their citizens from the deadly virus but they also have to save people from hunger, he observed.</p>
<p>He said that today the world boasted the largest number of young people in history. Even before the pandemic struck, one fifth of youth in the world was unemployed and did not have the education and skills to equip themselves for the 21st century, he remarked.</p>
<p>“We have 550 million youth population in the D8 countries. Our youth not only has the potential to optimize opportunities, but they can also help overcome the present challenges.”</p>
<p>He said that the developing countries had young entrepreneurs, business innovators, technology pioneers, educators, artists and journalists and “we must create opportunities for this predominant component of the population”.</p>
<p>PM Imran said that the pace of change in the world had intensified and the rate of change had become exponential.</p>
<p>Innovation and breakthroughs in technology, he said, were transforming the science fiction of yesterday into reality of today. Only five years ago, the World Economic Forum (WEF) had predicted that the Fourth Industrial Revolution “will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another”.</p>
<p>The prime minister noted that contemporary global challenges of a changing world were a moving target. “No single country can address these complexities in isolation. Partnerships are essential.”</p>
<p>He expressed happiness that the D8 countries had a platform to work together for mutual benefit and win-win solutions.</p>
<p>“The D8 will do well to pay special attention by following specific areas while dealing with the rapidly transforming world.”</p>
<p>First, as the net producer of global commodities, the D8 must conceive projects that harness technology for supply side improvements with special emphasis on efficiency and productivity, he said.</p>
<p>He said that with cost of transportation and communications improving due to innovations, the D8 must partner to keep pace with logistics and global supply chains.</p>
<p>Secondly, the D8 should brainstorm ideas to insulate its members from disruptions in the labour markets due to technology and innovations, he continued.</p>
<p>PM Imran said that as the automation substituted for labour across the world, the labour intensive economies of D8 faced challenges of unemployment and social disruption.</p>
<p>He said that the D8 countries should ask that the coronavirus vaccine should be treated as a global public good to ensure equity, affordability, enhanced production and timely supply to save lives.</p>
<p>“We must push back against vaccine nationalism and undue export restrictions. The global vaccine manufacturing companies must speed up production and share their technology and expertise with the developing countries for adequate vaccine supply.”</p>
<p>He said that 23 years ago, a shared vision motivated “our countries to establish D8 to improve their position in the global economy, diversify and create new opportunities in trade relations, enhance participation in decision making at international level, and improve living standards”.</p>
<p>Today, he said, D8 was a grouping of over one billion people with a combined GDP of four trillion dollars. “We possess two essential pre-requisites for growth, including resources and enterprising people.”</p>
<p>He proposed five steps to supplement efforts of D8 during the present testing times. “We must mobilise finances and resources to recover robustly from the economic and health crises induced by coronavirus pandemic,” he added.</p>
<p>He said that in order to address the unique financial and economic crises faced by developing countries as a result of the pandemic, he had suggested a five-point plan, including debt relief, creation and re-distribution of special drawing rights, mobilisation of climate finance, elimination of illicit financial flows and return of stolen assets to the developing countries.</p>
<p>He had called for a global initiative on debt relief last April, he added.</p>
<p>The prime minister invited the leadership of D8 countries to consider his five points and join in advocacy for the Covid-19 related relief measures.</p>
<p>He said that the D8 must take concrete actions for expanding intra D8 trade from currently around $100 billion to $500 billion by the year 2030.</p>
<p>It should include measures like simplification of border procedures, enhancing of institutional linkages and operationalising new initiatives, he added.</p>
<p>PM Imran welcomed ideas like D8 payment card, which would enable transactions in local currency.</p>
<p>He urged the D-8 to develop a “Youth Engagement Strategy” focused on promoting cultural, educational, and scientific and business exchanges.</p>
<p>“Linkages should be established between educational institutions through scholarships, skills development, trainings, fellowships, joint research, and exchange programmes for the youth, particularly in the field of science, technology and innovation.”</p>
<p>He said that the technological development was a gateway to economic prosperity, particularly in the post-pandemic period when reliance on technology would be greater than ever before in human history.</p>
<p>“To remain competitive, we must promote knowledge-based economies, increase expenditure on research and development, and focus on rapid digitalization. Pakistan has recently hosted the inaugural meeting of the D-8 Network of Pioneers for Research and Innovation (NPRI).”</p>
<p>He underlined the need for making D-8 more relevant to the lives of its citizens by promoting food security, enhancing cooperation in health, holding joint sports events and helping each other during natural disasters.</p>
<p>“To achieve these goals, we need high level of commitment and mobilisation of financial resources by both developed and developing economies.”</p>
<p>“Partnerships between governments, international financial institutions, businesses and civil society are essential to leverage technology, innovation and skills to enable every young person to have all opportunities to realise their full potential,” he concluded.</p>
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		<title>Coronavirus infections continue upward rally as third wave intensifies</title>
		<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/03/19/coronavirus-infections-continue-upward-rally-as-third-wave-intensifies/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Staff Report]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 19 Mar 2021 13:47:04 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[HEADLINES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NATIONAL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Top Headlines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=125443</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/unnamed-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" />ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Active coronavirus cases were recorded at 27,188 on Friday with 3,449 more people testing positive for the deadly virus and 813 people recovering from the disease during the past 24 hours. The positivity rate was recorded at 8.04 per cent during the past one day. 40 Covid-19 patients died during past the 24 hours, [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/unnamed-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p><strong>ISLAMABAD/LAHORE:</strong> Active coronavirus cases were recorded at 27,188 on Friday with 3,449 more people testing positive for the deadly virus and 813 people recovering from the disease during the past 24 hours.</p>
<p>The positivity rate was recorded at 8.04 per cent during the past one day.</p>
<p>40 Covid-19 patients died during past the 24 hours, 38 of whom were under treatment in hospitals and two in their respective homes under quarantine, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).</p>
<p>During the last 24 hours, most of the deaths had occurred in the Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Out of the total 40 deaths, 17 of the deceased had died on ventilators during their treatment.</p>
<p>Maximum ventilators were occupied in four major areas &#8212; Multan 41 per cent, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) 51 per cent, Peshawar 26 per cent and Lahore 39 per cent.</p>
<p>The maximum oxygen beds (alternate oxygen providing facility other than ventilator administered as per medical requirement of a coronavirus patient) was also occupied in four major areas – Gujrat 75 per cent, Peshawar 53 per cent, ICT 40 per cent and Rawalpindi 32 per cent.</p>
<p>Around 276 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country while no coronavirus patient was on ventilator in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Balochistan.</p>
<p>Some 42,845 tests were conducted across the country on Thursday, including 10,527 in Sindh, 15,818 in Punjab, 7,443 in KP, 7,291 in ICT, 453 in Balochistan, 289 in GB, and 1,024 in AJK.</p>
<p>Around 578,314 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan, making it a significant count with over 90 per cent recovery ratio of the affected patients.</p>
<p>Since the outbreak, a total of 619,259 cases have been detected that also include those who passed away or recovered those currently under treatment for coronavirus. So far, AJK has reported 11,377 cases, Balochistan 19,290, GB 4,967, ICT 50,096, KP 77,972, Punjab 193,054 and Sindh 262,503.</p>
<p>About 13,757 deaths were recorded in country since the first case of the highly contagious virus emerged last year. Around 4,473 people died in Sindh with four deaths occurring in the hospital during the past 24 hours.</p>
<p>5,919 people had died in Punjab with 23 deaths occurring in the past 24 hours. 21 of them were in the hospital and two out of the hospital. 2,196 people died in KP with eight of them passing away in the hospital. 536 died in ICT, including five deaths in hospitals, 202 in Balochistan, 103 in GB and 328 in AJK succumbed to the deadly virus.</p>
<p>A total of 9,691,087 coronavirus tests have been conducted so far, while 631 hospitals are equipped with Covid-19 facilities. Some 2,601 coronavirus patients were admitted in hospitals across the country.</p>
<p><strong>UHS CONTINUES CLINICAL TRIAL OF ANOTHER COVID-19 VACCINE:</strong></p>
<p>Meanwhile, the University of Health Sciences (UHS) continued the clinical trials of another Chinese vaccine, ZF2001.</p>
<p>The researchers at the UHS completed the screening of 250 volunteers. The spokesperson said that the Covid-19 vaccine is in trial phases and currently unavailable in market.</p>
<p>The vaccine has been administered to 70 volunteers and its approval for clinical trials was granted by National Bioethics Committee (NBC) and Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP). The clinical trials of the ZF2001 vaccines are also being carried out in Indonesia and Uzbekistan.</p>
<p>ZF2001 vaccine is developed by Chinese Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Co Ltd.</p>
<p>They are aiming to recruit 10,000 volunteers for the clinical trials of the new Covid-19 vaccines in Pakistan prior to the commencement of the holy month of Ramzan, said the spokesperson, adding that all protocols are being maintained during the vaccine trials.</p>
<p>UHS also appealed to citizens to avoid suspicion and to take part in its clinical trial.</p>
<p>Earlier in October last year, DRAP had issued a three-year licence to the UHS Lahore to conduct Covid-19 vaccine trails.</p>
<p>The UHS had been given licence by DRAP so that it could be used as a site for the phase-III clinical trials of a Chinese vaccine. The permission included a trial of the vaccine on humans for three years at the UHS.</p>
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		<title>Third wave feared as coronavirus cases surge</title>
		<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/03/07/third-wave-feared-as-coronavirus-cases-surge/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[News Desk]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 07 Mar 2021 12:30:42 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[NATIONAL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Top Headlines]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Asad Umar]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=123450</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/sciencesource_ss22502136_wide-4db0dc0052033a7ceb7b5a2a224144272874adbb-s1100-c15-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" />The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) warned on Sunday that the government&#8217;s decision to relax Covid-19 restrictions may lead to a third coronavirus wave, as infection figures have been surging again. The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Sunday that 1,780 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, the highest daily [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/sciencesource_ss22502136_wide-4db0dc0052033a7ceb7b5a2a224144272874adbb-s1100-c15-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) warned on Sunday that the government&#8217;s decision to relax Covid-19 restrictions may lead to a third coronavirus wave, as infection figures have been surging again.</p>
<p>The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Sunday that 1,780 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the past 24 hours, the highest daily caseload since January 30. The total number of infections rose to 590,508 with these fresh cases.</p>
<p>The country recorded 39 more deaths due to the coronavirus pandemic in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 13,205. The total count of active cases is 17,352 and the positivity rate stands at 4.57 per cent. According to the NCOC, 1,595 patients were stated to be in critical condition.</p>
<p>In the past 24 hours, as many as 1,038 patients recovered from the virus while so far, the number of recoveries has been 559,248. A total of 38,887 tests were conducted across the country during the last 24 hours, while 9,212,480 samples have so far been tested.</p>
<p>The increase in Covid-19 cases comes after the NCOC, which oversees Pakistan’s coronavirus response, on February 24 eased most of virus-related restrictions, allowing commercial activities and workplaces to function at full strength. &#8220;This could lead, God forbid, to a third wave of Covid-19 in the country,” PMA Secretary General Dr Qaiser Sajjad said in a statement. He added that the decision to lift the restrictions now was too hasty and should take place after most Pakistanis have been vaccinated. &#8220;We suggested that after vaccination of at least 70 per cent of the population, (the government) could start lifting restrictions,&#8221; he further said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, NCOC chief Asad Umar said on Sunday that vaccination drive for people above 60 years old will begin from Wednesday (March 10), adding that further details for the process will be issued on Monday.</p>
<p>In a tweet, the federal minister said that the vaccinations will be done in reverse order by age. “The vaccination of people 60 years and older will be starting from Wednesday the 10th of March.”</p>
<p>“Vaccinations will be done in reverse order by age. This means the oldest person who has registered will be vaccinated first. Full details will be issued tomorrow,” read the tweet shared by the minister.</p>
<p>The number of coronavirus cases have almost doubled in a week in Lahore. As per sources in the Punjab health department, the number of daily coronavirus cases in Punjab on February 28 were 528 which have now doubled to 1,044 as of Sunday.</p>
<p>In Peshawar, the civil administration has imposed a micro smart lockdown in several neighbourhoods of Peshawar to halt virus spread. According to a notification, the lockdown came into effect at 6:00pm on Sunday, following which there was a complete ban on movement of people to and from these areas except for limited movement. Essential services are exempted from the ban. The officials said the lockdown is being imposed in small areas and streets considered Covid-19 hotspots.</p>
<p>Sindh reported at least 189 new coronavirus cases during the past 24 hours, taking the tally to 259,854. According to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, two more patients succumbed to the deadly virus as the death toll surged to 4,426. He further said that 189 patients recovered overnight, taking the total to 249,188.</p>
<p>Punjab&#8217;s tally for confirmed Covid-19 cases reached 177,008 after the province reported 1,044 cases in a day. The province had not reported over 1,000 cases in a day since July last year.</p>
<p>Moreover, Punjab also reported 18 more deaths on Saturday, taking the provincial death toll to 5,552. According to the province&#8217;s healthcare department, it has so far recorded 164,989 recoveries.</p>
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		<title>PM to share Pakistan&#8217;s perspective on Covid-19 challenges at 14th ECO Summit</title>
		<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/03/03/pm-to-share-pakistans-perspective-on-covid-19-challenges-at-14th-eco-summit/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Staff Correspondent]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Mar 2021 16:42:07 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[HEADLINES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NATIONAL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PM Imran]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=122934</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/imran_khan_un001-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" />ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will open the 14th Summit of Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), to be held virtually on Thursday (March 4), and share Pakistan’s perspective on Covid-19 challenges. The theme of the summit is “Regional Economic Cooperation in the Aftermath of Covid-19”. The prime minister will open the summit in Pakistan’s capacity as the [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/imran_khan_un001-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p><strong>ISLAMABAD: </strong>Prime Minister Imran Khan will open the 14th Summit of Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO), to be held virtually on Thursday (March 4), and share Pakistan’s perspective on Covid-19 challenges.</p>
<p>The theme of the summit is “Regional Economic Cooperation in the Aftermath of Covid-19”.</p>
<p>The prime minister will open the summit in Pakistan’s capacity as the chair of the 13th Summit. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will chair the 14th Summit, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a press release.</p>
<p>Sharing Pakistan’s perspective on Covid-19 challenges, the prime minister will outline his vision for regional economic development in line with the ECO’s founding principles of promotion of trade and connectivity, it added.</p>
<p>Pakistan, Iran and Turkey are the founding members of ECO, which was formed in 1985 from the erstwhile Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD). Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan later joined it.</p>
<p>As a founding member, Pakistan remains strongly committed to the ECO, which aims at promoting effective regional cooperation, with focus on communications, trade, culture and connectivity, the FO said.</p>
<p>The summit is the highest platform of the 10-member ECO. The summit meetings entail exchange of views on regional and global issues of interest to the ECO region and review of the progress in implementation of the ECO programmes and projects, it added.</p>
<p>Pakistan has been actively contributing towards advancement of the goals and objectives of ECO, including regional economic integration, the FO concluded.</p>
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		<title>Covid-19 deals blow to polio eradication effort</title>
		<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/02/17/covid-19-deals-blow-to-polio-eradication-effort/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Agencies]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Feb 2021 15:07:34 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[HEADLINES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[NATIONAL]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[polio]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vaccine]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=120577</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-32x32.jpg 32w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-50x50.jpg 50w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-64x64.jpg 64w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-96x96.jpg 96w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-128x128.jpg 128w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />PESHAWAR: After decades of work, polio had been wiped out almost everywhere in the world. All that was left were pockets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Medical experts hoped 2020 would be the last year that the main form of the virus, which can permanently paralyze or cause death, posed a threat. The coronavirus pandemic put a [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-32x32.jpg 32w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-50x50.jpg 50w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-64x64.jpg 64w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-96x96.jpg 96w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/polio-128x128.jpg 128w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /><p><strong>PESHAWAR: </strong>After decades of work, polio had been wiped out almost everywhere in the world. All that was left were pockets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Medical experts hoped 2020 would be the last year that the main form of the virus, which can permanently paralyze or cause death, posed a threat.</p>
<p>The coronavirus pandemic put a halt to that progress.</p>
<p>In March, house-to-house vaccination teams working across Pakistan were forced to stop their work because of Covid-19. As a result, polio resurged, including a mutated form of the virus. It has now been detected in samples taken from sewers in 74% of Pakistan in late 2020, up from just 13% in early 2018.</p>
<p>“Now the virus isn’t just in select pockets. The risk is everywhere” in the country, said Rana Safdar, the doctor in charge of Pakistan’s polio campaign.</p>
<p>The decadeslong battle to eradicate polio around the world is one of the most ambitious and expensive public-health campaigns in history. The mass-vaccination drive and its progress toward arresting a malady that has disabled or killed millions of people point to the success possible in the efforts to inoculate people around the world against Covid-19.</p>
<p>But even with an established vaccine, billions of dollars invested and international support, the polio effort has struggled. And in a cruel twist, the coronavirus pandemic has pushed the polio fight off course.</p>
<p>“The pandemic has been at least a one-year setback” to the polio eradication goal, said Bill Gates, whose charitable foundation is a major funder of the effort.</p>
<p>Vaccination teams resumed polio inoculations in Pakistan in September. They confronted both a reinvigorated poliovirus and psychological resistance to vaccinations worsened by grievances over the economic damage of Covid-19 lockdowns. Those problems added to the old hurdles of misinformation and concerns the polio drops violate Islamic dietary laws or were a conspiracy to harm Muslims.</p>
<p>Sitting on the steps of a kitchenware shop in a polio hot spot in the northwest city of Peshawar, Watan Dost spoke to a vaccination team accompanied by an Islamic cleric for an hour as they tried to persuade him to allow his four children to get the free inoculation.</p>
<p>They failed. “It is fate, God’s will. If my child gets paralyzed, so be it,” said Dost. “Why would I give my child medicine if he isn’t sick?”</p>
<p>Around him, inner-city Peshawar’s winding alleyways provide the conditions in which the virus thrives: rows of rickety homes packed with large extended families, and open sewers running alongside footpaths where children, some barefoot, play.</p>
<p>The virus is carried in faeces and primarily infects young children after they touch contaminated water or dirt and then put their fingers in their mouths. From there, the virus can invade the brain and spinal cord, leading to paralysis and, in some cases, death. Adults are less at risk of infection, because of less exposure to the sewage and a greater likelihood of being vaccinated.</p>
<p>Historical polio outbreaks share similarities with the current coronavirus pandemic. In the late 1940s, polio waves in the U.S. disabled an average of more than 35,000 people each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Parents were frightened to let their children play outside in the warm summer months when the virus was spreading most. Infected children were isolated.</p>
<p>Public health officials instituted travel restrictions between affected cities and quarantines in places where polio was diagnosed, and they learned that asymptomatic carriers could spread the virus. During a 1934 epidemic in Los Angeles, 5% of doctors and 11% of nurses who treated polio patients contracted the disease.</p>
<p>Officials say that, as with polio, Covid-19 won’t be tamed until vaccines are distributed globally with near-universal coverage, especially with the rise of new viral variants that are spreading quickly around the world.</p>
<p>The March of Dimes—founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who himself was diagnosed with polio—funded development of the first vaccines, which were created in the 1950s. Polio numbers in the U.S. fell off dramatically, with the last recorded case in 1979, although it remains standard for children to be inoculated.</p>
<p>Around the world, infections were still widespread. Rotary International and the United Nations established the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988. That year, 350,000 people across 125 countries were paralyzed by the infection. The group aimed to make polio the second human disease after smallpox to be vanquished. The alliance was joined later by more partners including the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, and it has poured more than $17.3 billion into the cause, including $1.2 billion for efforts in Pakistan since 2016.</p>
<p>By the start of 2020, the virus had been largely eliminated. Vaccination teams were pushing through final areas that weren’t protected, especially because incomplete coverage can lead to both a resurgence of the main and most dangerous form of the virus, which is called the “wild” virus, and also a mutated virus that can be fostered by the type of vaccine used outside the U.S. and other developed countries.</p>
<p>That vaccine uses a weakened, live virus, and is given by drops into the patient’s mouth and requires multiple doses. (In the U.S., the vaccine uses a killed virus that is injected, also with several doses.) The oral vaccine is easier to administer and doesn’t require needles, and provides better immunity protection for the community in areas where the virus is widely circulating.</p>
<p>But the oral vaccine puts the weakened live virus back into sewage—emitted by the inoculated person—that under rare circumstances can mutate and cause harm to children who aren’t immunized.</p>
<p>While the wild form of the virus remains only in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the vaccine-derived, mutated form has been a growing danger there and in other countries, mostly in Africa. In November, the World Health Organization issued an emergency use recommendation for a new oral vaccine that uses a form of the live virus less likely to mutate and become a danger.</p>
<p>In Pakistan, wild cases surged in 2019 amid misinformation that stopped inoculations. In 2020, after vaccination campaigns were postponed or teams temporarily shifted to focus on the Covid-19 pandemic, the wild cases spread to new parts of the country and vaccine-derived cases showed an alarming increase.</p>
<p>An independent panel of global health experts who monitor polio eradication efforts issued a report in July warning the program in Pakistan needed to broaden its approach, such as by offering services in addition to distributing the polio drops. “If those changes do not get rolling, the wheels will come off the Pakistan bus,” the panel wrote.</p>
<p>Late last year, officials with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative warned that resources diverted to fight Covid-19 had left the global polio effort’s budget in 2020 and 2021 short by up to $400 million.</p>
<p>When efforts restarted in Pakistan, more than a quarter of a million vaccinators, mostly women, fanned out across the country. They navigated slums and trekked through rural areas, waded through monsoon floodwaters and climbed to remote mountain villages to reach the nation’s 40 million children under 5 years old.</p>
<p>One of their biggest problems was online misinformation, especially on Facebook and WhatsApp. Pakistani officials said elements of the misinformation appear organized, and that it soars when scheduled vaccination campaigns are on.</p>
<p>Antivaccine material from overseas, including from the U.S., subtitled in the local language of Urdu, is also passed around.</p>
<p>Videos originating in Peshawar in April 2019 showed children fainting, vomiting and holding their stomachs in pain after receiving polio drops. The fake videos boomeranged around the country on Facebook and WhatsApp.</p>
<p>Parents of children who had received the inoculation that day panicked, rushing 45,000 children to hospitals in Peshawar, overwhelming the facilities. Pakistan had to suspend its campaign for eight months while it assured parents that no children had died in Peshawar that day. Still, some cling to that myth.</p>
<p>“India eradicated polio when there was no WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, and no Taliban,” said Aziz Memon, head of Rotary in Pakistan, referring to the added challenge presented by the misinformation. The neighbouring country, which shares similar levels of poverty and has more than six times the population, eliminated the poliovirus in 2011. Last year, the wild virus was also declared eliminated from the continent of Africa.</p>
<p>Facebook announced this week that it will now remove certain false claims about vaccines, including posts saying vaccines aren’t effective or dangerous. It was already deleting content that could lead to offline harm, such as posts that called polio vaccinators CIA agents.</p>
<p>Pakistan’s polio program has a team countering digital falsehoods in real-time and pushing positive messages about the vaccine on social media.</p>
<p>Suspicions about vaccines intensified after it was revealed a Pakistani doctor, under the guise of a house-to-house inoculation campaign against hepatitis B, helped the CIA track down Osama bin Laden. U.S. Special Forces killed bin Laden in 2011 at the house in northern Pakistan where he was hiding.</p>
<p>Militants and hard-line Islamic clerics had said for years that vaccinators were spies. In the years following, dozens of members of polio vaccination teams were killed. The Pakistani Taliban banned vaccinations around the northwest border, which they controlled at the time.</p>
<p>Though the danger is reduced now because of Pakistani counterterrorism operations, some 100,000 police and military personnel provide security for each polio vaccination campaign.</p>
<p>Across the border in Afghanistan, the virus is less pervasive because the country is so rural. But the Afghan Taliban has banned house-to-house vaccination campaigns, fearing they could be cover for espionage.</p>
<p>Islamic clerics also accompany the vaccination teams, because some parents believe the vaccine contains ingredients prohibited in Islam, or that the vaccine is a Western ploy to sterilize Muslims. Distrust of the U.S. and of Mr. Gates’s involvement is rampant.</p>
<p>“The Holy Quran is burned in the West, but yet they’re giving us polio drops? If they don’t respect our faith, why would they do this for us?” said Lal Zada, a small-time businessman, while visited by vaccinators at his home on the outskirts of Peshawar. “There are a hundred other diseases. What makes us suspicious is this focus on just one illness.”</p>
<p>Especially resistant are ethnic Pashtuns on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, including in Peshawar. The largely poor communities have been caught in America’s war on terror, sandwiched between U.S. airstrikes from above and Taliban militants on the ground.</p>
<p>Their situation has bred anger and suspicion at the U.S. and their own government for not protecting them from violence or providing basic public services like sewers.</p>
<p>Far south of their homeland, in the multicultural city of Karachi, it is the migrant Pashtun community that most often refuses the inoculation.</p>
<p>“One has to really communicate very carefully,” said Susan Goldstein, a health-communication expert at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a member of the panel of global-health experts who monitor polio eradication efforts.</p>
<p>“You can’t keep coming 10 times to the door and saying you have to have polio drops, and they don’t have soap and water,” she said. “They would like to have some other services.”</p>
<p>Some poor communities have found they have new leverage when vaccinators come calling. Teams in Pakistan have received demands for electricity, roads and schools, as well as other health services, before residents would agree to vaccinations. One common demand: the $70 lockdown relief Pakistan’s government promised as part of the country’s fight against the coronavirus, which was disbursed to more than 15 million families. Pakistan has more than 556,000 infections and more than 12,000 deaths from Covid-19.</p>
<p>Inside a wooden hut on the edge of Peshawar where he runs a tiny grocery store, Babar Nadeem brushed off vaccinators and a local cleric who teaches the Holy Quran to the shopkeeper’s two children under 5.</p>
<p>One of the children, Nadeem said, requires treatment for a urinary problem. “More important than polio is the operation my kid needs, but the hospital won’t do it. More important are clothes for my children,” said  Nadeem. “Even if they kill my children in front of me, I won’t let them have the vaccine.”</p>
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		<title>Iran leader bans import of US, UK Covid-19 vaccines, demands sanctions end</title>
		<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/01/08/iran-leader-bans-import-of-us-uk-covid-19-vaccines-demands-sanctions-end/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Agencies]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 08 Jan 2021 12:17:28 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[HEADLINES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Britain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[government]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Iran]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Middle East]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Supreme Leader]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[United States]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vaccines]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=112625</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/31-1-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" />DUBAI: Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday banned the government from importing Covid-19 vaccines from the United States and Britain, labelling the Western powers “untrustworthy”, as the infection spreads in the Middle East’s hardest-hit country. In a live televised speech, Ayatollah Khamenei raised the prospect of the two Western countries, long-time adversaries of [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/31-1-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p><strong>DUBAI:</strong> Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday banned the government from importing Covid-19 vaccines from the United States and Britain, labelling the Western powers “untrustworthy”, as the infection spreads in the Middle East’s hardest-hit country.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">In a live televised speech, Ayatollah Khamenei raised the prospect of the two Western countries, long-time adversaries of the Islamic Republic, possibly seeking to spread the infection to other countries.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">He added however that Iran could obtain vaccines “from other reliable places”. He gave no details, but China and Russia are both allies of Iran.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">“Imports of US and British vaccines into the country are forbidden &#8230; They’re completely untrustworthy. It’s not unlikely they would want to contaminate other nations,” said Ayatollah Khamenei, the country’s highest authority.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">“Given our experience with France’s HIV-tainted blood supplies, French vaccines aren’t trustworthy either,” Khamenei said, referring to the country’s contaminated blood scandal of the 1980s and 1990s.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">Iran launched human trials of its first domestic Covid-19 vaccine candidate late last month, saying it could help Iran defeat the pandemic despite US sanctions that affect its ability to import vaccines.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">Tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen since 2018, when US President Donald Trump abandoned Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">In retaliation for US sanctions, which were lifted under the nuclear deal, Tehran has gradually violated the accord. US President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on Jan 20, has pledged to rejoin the agreement, if Tehran also returns to full compliance.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">Ayatollah Khamenei said Tehran was in no rush for the US to re-enter the deal, but that sanctions on the Islamic Republic must be lifted immediately.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">Iran’s utmost authority, Ayatollah Khamenei ruled out any talks over Tehran’s missile programme and Iran’s involvement in the Middle East, as demanded by the US and some other major powers.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">“Contrary to the US, Iran’s involvement in the region creates stability and is aimed at preventing instability &#8230; Iran’s involvement in the region is definite and will continue.”</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">Shortly before Ayatollah Khamenei’s speech, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards unveiled an underground missile base at an undisclosed Gulf location.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">The West sees Iran’s missiles both as a conventional military threat to regional stability and a possible delivery mechanism for nuclear weapons should Tehran develop them.</p>
<p class="Paragraph-paragraph-2Bgue ArticleBody-para-TD_9x">But Iran, which has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, regards the programme as an important deterrent and retaliatory force against US and other adversaries &#8211; primarily Gulf Arabs &#8211; in the region in the event of war.</p>
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		<title>Majority of people affected by Covid-19 have resumed work in Pakistan</title>
		<link>https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2021/01/07/majority-of-people-affected-by-covid-19-have-resumed-work-in-pakistan/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Ghulam Abbas]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Jan 2021 16:41:26 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[HEADLINES]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2020]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[COVID-19]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pakistan Bureau of Statistics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PBS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[recovery]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=112508</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-32x32.jpg 32w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-50x50.jpg 50w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-64x64.jpg 64w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-96x96.jpg 96w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-128x128.jpg 128w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has claimed that out of the 35 per cent population of the country which had been affected by Covid-19, at least 33 per cent resumed their work after July 2020, indicating a sharp recovery. The above was revealed during a meeting regarding the steps taken by PBS on designing [&#8230;]]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="150" height="150" src="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" style="float:left; margin:0 15px 15px 0;" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-150x150.jpg 150w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-32x32.jpg 32w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-50x50.jpg 50w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-64x64.jpg 64w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-96x96.jpg 96w, https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/8635181-Background-concept-illustration-Consumer-Price-Index-Stock-Illustration-128x128.jpg 128w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /><p><strong>ISLAMABAD:</strong> Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) has claimed that out of the 35 per cent population of the country which had been affected by Covid-19, at least 33 per cent resumed their work after July 2020, indicating a sharp recovery.</p>
<p>The above was revealed during a meeting regarding the steps taken by PBS on designing a support system for inflation as well as the results of a special survey to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 on the wellbeing of people.</p>
<p>PBS officials said that, in Pakistan, approximately 55.74 million people were working before the onset of the pandemic, but due to the closure of business after the implementation of lockdowns, this number fell to 35.04 million.</p>
<p>During the meeting, which was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, the PBS said that almost 20.76 million people had been affected, but there had been a considerable recovery.</p>
<p>It found that approximately 52.56 million people reported working after the period of April–July 2020.</p>
<p>The PBS added that the livelihood of 17.07 million households had been affected due to the restrictions and evidence suggested that if the strict lockdowns had continued, vulnerable groups of workers and their families could have suffered devastating impacts.<br />
According to officials, in compliance with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision of “Digital Pakistan”, PBS has developed a Decision Support System for Inflation (DSSI) which would enable the policymakers from the National Price Monitoring Committee (NPMC) as well as the provincial governments and district administrations to take evidence-based policy decisions and address the causes of inflation in the country.</p>
<p>DSSI is designed to provide market-level information, city-wise comparisons of prices, time-series data at the commodity level and more. One of the salient features of DSSI is that it provides comparison of rates issued by the deputy commissioners and those collected by PBS on a weekly basis.</p>
<p>During the meeting, the federal minister appreciated the work of PBS and was of the view that the district administration plays a vital role in controlling price hikes by effective monitoring of markets.</p>
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