With the coronavirus situation deteriorating in the country, Pakistan begins vaccinating citizens aged 50-59 from Wednesday (today).
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) last week decided to start the vaccination of this age group. The NCOC chief Asad Umar urged people to register for the vaccine.
The citizens are receiving jabs of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine.
The National Command and Operation Centre started registering citizens above 50 years of age for COVID-19 vaccination from March 30.
Pakistan has so far conducted 11,319,832 coronavirus tests and 47,301 in the last 24 hours. 672,619 coronavirus patients have recovered in the country whereas 4,528 patients are in critical condition.
In an alarming situation, the ICU occupancy at top Lahore hospitals has reached 95 percent during the third wave of the deadly Covid-19. The ICU beds at major hospitals in the city including Mayo Hospital, Kot Khawaja Saeed Hospital and Government Mian Nawaz Sharif Hospital are occupied to their capacity with only five percent collective beds left at these major health facilities. “As many as 250 Covid-19 patients are on ventilators in Lahore,” reports said, adding that overall, the ICU occupancy at Lahore hospitals has reached 89 percent.
Besides this, around 600 patients are currently being treated at high oxygen wards in the city. The occupancy at high oxygen units has reached 94 percent while remained at 45 percent at low oxygen units.