In Pakistan, for the first time since September, more than 2,000 corona cases were reported in one day

A total of 2,074 new corona cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, compared to 2,233 on September 23.

Moreover, for the first time since December 21, the death toll has reached double digits with 10 deaths.

According to the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), the rate of positive cases has risen to 4.7%.

The number of active cases has risen to more than 20,000 while the condition of 628 patients is critical.

The cases and death statistics in the provinces during the last 24 hours are as follows:

Sindh: 1,402 cases, 9 deaths

Punjab: 445 cases, 2 deaths

Islamabad: 165 cases

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 52 cases, 2 deaths

Azad Jammu and Kashmir: 7 cases

Balochistan: 3 cases

No new cases or deaths have been confirmed in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The NCOC figures also show a worrying increase in positive cases in cities.

The worst affected areas are Karachi where positive cases were recorded at 20.22 per cent, followed by Mirpur at 10 per cent, Lahore at 7.15 per cent and Islamabad and Rawalpindi at 4.56 per cent and 4.06 per cent respectively. Gone

The increase in cases is due to the ‘omecron’ variant of the corona virus, which has caused a fifth wave of corona epidemics in the country.

An important milestone in the vaccination campaign

A day ago, Pakistan crossed an important milestone in the vaccination campaign by vaccinating 100 million people with at least one dose of the vaccine.

NCOC chief Asad Omar said in a tweet that “out of these 100 million people, about 75 million people have been fully vaccinated, which is 33% of the total population and 49% of the population.” The campaign is not over yet, the pace needs to be maintained.

Karachi still lags behind in vaccination rates

Karachi still lags behind in urban vaccination rates and more than 40% of the city’s population has not yet received the first dose of vaccine.

According to health department officials, the vaccination target has not been met as planned and at present 90% of the patients in Corona Wards are being treated without vaccination.

Regarding the rising number of corona cases, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechoho, while presiding over a meeting on Tuesday, had expressed concern over the fact that an extraordinary number of people have not yet received the first dose of the vaccine.

The meeting decided to take several measures to make the vaccination campaign effective and action was announced against marriage halls, shopping malls and factories violating SOPs.

It was also decided at the meeting that a plan would be drawn up for vaccination of citizens and especially housewives by going door to door, for which the services of lady health workers would be sought.

In the first phase, the center of the campaign will be Karachi, Sukkur and Larkana. In the second phase, vaccination campaign will be run again in Hyderabad and Shaheed Benazirabad including Karachi.

In November, Asad Omar and Dr Faisal Sultan, the prime minister’s special assistant for health, warned citizens that the arrival of the Omicron variant in Pakistan was inevitable.

Then on November 27, Pakistan imposed a travel ban on the six South African countries where new variants of the Corona were unveiled, including South Africa, Lesotho, Iswatini, Mozambique, Botswana and Namibia and Hong Kong.

Nine more countries were later banned, including Croatia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Ukraine, Ireland, Slovenia, Vietnam, Poland and Zimbabwe.