Category: Health

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

After a brief delay, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) finally issued Wednesday revised coronavirus guidelines and SOPs for the education, restaurant, entertainment, and other sectors as Pakistan continues its battle against a fifth wave of the pandemic and struggles to contain the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

In cities and districts with positivity higher than 10%, the classes for children under 12 years will continue on “staggered” days, while classes will be conducted daily for fully-vaccinated students above 12 years of age.

In the cities and districts which have a positivity ratio of up to 10%, classes will continue as usual, but with stringent COVID-19 protocols intact, as per NCOC’s guidelines.

With effect from February 1, at least one dose for students above 12 years will be mandatory and no exemption other than medical reasons will be entertained, the NCOC guidelines stated.

“Aggressive sentinel testing in educational institutions will be carried out for targeted closures in high disease prevalence education institutes,” the NCOC said.

Federating units in consultations with health authorities will set a number of cases or infection rate as the benchmark for closure of education institutes, the forum stated.

The decisions were taken during an NCOC session held today in Islamabad with Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar in the chair, a statement from the forum said.

The forum took a “detailed review” of the current trend of the pandemic in the country and after a “deliberate and consultative process”, it has agreed upon the following non-pharmaceutical interventions:

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan reported more than 3,000 coronavirus cases for the first time since September 15, 2021, the National Command and Operations Centre’s (NCOC) data showed Thursday morning.

The NCOC data showed that the country registered 3,019 more cases in the last 24 hours, taking the overall infections’ tally to 1.31 million. The positivity ratio has reached 6.12% — the highest in more than four months, as the infection rate was last above it on September 8, 2021.

As many as five deaths were also recorded, which took the death toll to 28,992, according to official figures.

Although the Centre had ruled out a lockdown and closing of schools, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training on Wednesday announced that a meeting of the provincial education ministers will be held today (Thursday) to debate whether the prevalent COVID-19 situation in the country warrants the closure of schools.

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Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Pakistan has recorded the highest number of coronavirus infections — 2,074 — in the last 24 hours since September 24, 2021, more than three months ago, the National Command and Operations Centre’s (NCOC) data showed Wednesday morning.

Following the detection of new cases, the positivity ratio has reached 4.70% and overall infections have jumped past 1.309 million, while the recovery ratio stands at 96.2% as 1.26 million people have recovered from the virus.

Pakistan also registered 13 deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest since December 15, 2021, pushing the death toll to 28,987, official figures showed.

The country’s partial vaccinations, as of Tuesday, moved up to 163.65 million after 811,901 more people received the jab, according to the NCOC.

Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, Karachi’s coronavirus positivity ratio has moved past 20.22%, with the Sindh Health Department mulling over a 14-day “special vaccination programme” in several cities of Sindh.

Despite rising cases, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said a day earlier Pakistan would not go another lockdown and dismissed reports of schools’ closure.

The information minister, addressing a post-cabinet press conference, said the federal cabinet was informed that the COVID-19 positivity ratio had doubled in the country.

“But despite this, it is our resolve that we absolutely not impose a lockdown in Pakistan. Our economy cannot bear the burden [of another lockdown],” he said.

The information minister said “an excellent” vaccination campaign was underway and the government had invested $2 billion into the vaccines.

“Pakistan has a success story of dealing with coronavirus. We will not impose a lockdown. We will, however, monitor the situation. We urge everyone to wear masks,” he said.

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Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is rapidly replacing the Delta variant as 11 members of a family in Karachi’s District East have been found infected with it. 

“Experts at the Provincial Public Health Laboratory (PPHL) have detected 11 cases of Omicron variant from the samples of a family from Lahore. These samples had been collected by the Sindh Health Department, which sent them to DUHS, where our experts confirmed the presence of Omicron variant through Next Generation Sequencing (NGS),” Prof Saeed Quraishy, Vice Chancellor, DUHS, .

The Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Karachi, has acquired the capability of conducting the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) with the help of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the varsity’s Provincial Public Health Laboratory (PPHL) is now the designated lab of the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, Prof Quraishy added.

He said they would continue to carry out surveillance for the Omicron variant cases at their lab, adding that they were using the molecular genetics technique for the detection of new variants, which is not available at many other facilities in the country.

Officials of the Sindh Health Department said they had sent the samples of 20 people infected with COVID-19 to the Dow University for confirmation of the Omicron Variant and after analysis, the Dow University confirmed that 11 people of the family, who came in contact with a female member of their family from Lahore, were infected with the Omicron variant.

“We are now tracing other contacts of these people and will take their samples for analysis but community transmission of this variant has started in the country and we have started seeing a slight surge in the cases of COVID-19 during the last two days,” an official of the Sindh Health Department.

Prof Dr Saeed Khan, an expert of the molecular genetics and pathology at DUHS, also confirmed that they had detected 11 cases of the Omicron variant while a 12th person was also infected but due to less viral load in the sample, they could not declare it a case of the variant with certainty.

“Community transmission of Omicron has started in Pakistan and it is now replacing the Delta variant very rapidly. As it is several times more transmissible, it would soon replace the Delta and other variants in our population,” Prof. Saeed Khan said and warned that people who were not vaccinated or those who had not received the booster dose were vulnerable to the Omicron variant infection.

“Cases of COVID-19 are expected to start rising within a few weeks in Karachi and rest of the country. We may see the peak of fifth wave of COVID-19 by the end of January or first week of February 2022,” he warned and urged people to take precautionary measures, wear masks and get vaccinated with booster dose, if required.

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Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Today Dr. Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, launched a nationwide campaign to immunise more than 90 million children against the deadly measles and rubella diseases across Pakistan, in what is bound to become one of the biggest campaigns in the world.

More than 386,000 health professionals, including 76,000 vaccinators and more than 143,000 social mobilizers are mobilised for the two-week campaign supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, WHO and partners. The campaign targets children aged between 9 months and 15 years; those aged up to five will also receive the oral polio vaccine.

“Measles and Rubella are contagious diseases and can have severe complications for children even death. Effective vaccine against the Measles and Rubella is available to prevent children against the two diseases. I urge both the front-line workers to work with dedication and the caregivers to express their support by vaccinating their children against the diseases,” said Dr. Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health
Measles and Rubella are couple of devastating diseases that cause severe sickness and can take lives,” said Dr. Muhammad Akram Shah, National Programme Manager, Expanded Programme on Immunization. In recent years cases have surged dramatically in Pakistan. “Measles cases rose alarmingly affecting thousands of children and claiming many young lives. We need to vaccinate every child”, said Dr. Shah.

The campaign will be conducted in public and private health facilities, outreach centres as well as educational facilities, for 12 days from November 15th to 27th. Nearly half of the children who are to be immunized are enrolled in schools. The MR vaccine will be available in routine immunization schedule for children at 9 months and 15 months of age.

“The Measles and Rubella campaign will move us not only one step closer to maintaining measles elimination and accelerating rubella control, but also one step closer to reducing the overall child mortality across Pakistan. Every child has the right to access life-saving healthcare, ”said Dr. Palitha Mahipala, WHO Representative in Pakistan. “WHO is partnering with the Government of Pakistan and supports to ensure that all children get vaccinated against Measles & Rubella. We appreciate the strong political commitment of the Government of Pakistan towards the measles elimination for the benefit of all children in Pakistan.”

“Today’s world is still grappling with the very contagious measles and rubella viruses, none of which have gone away despite being entirely preventable with a simple vaccine,” said Ms. Aida Girma, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan. “UNICEF is proud to support the Government to ensure that safe, effective vaccines are available and delivered nationwide. By working together, we can contribute towards the global eradication of measles and rubella, to the benefit of children in Pakistan and across the world.”

Pakistan has demonstrated unwavering commitment toward restoring and strengthening immunisation services across the country over the past years, with promising results. Targeting every child is a priority to help ensure that vaccination is equitable for every child.

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Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Federal Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that vaccination is the most effective way of protection against the new coronavirus variant, Omicron, Monday.

Umar, who is also the chief of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), while addressing a joint press conference flanked by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan in Islamabad, warned that the Omicron variant will inevitably come to Pakistan.

The minister announced that the NCOC has made some decisions regarding the highly contagious new variant which is spreading fast across the globe.

He said that the country has only a few weeks to contain the Omicron threat.

“Measures to control the [spread of] new variant in Pakistan are underway but vaccination is the only effective way of protection against Omicron,” said Umar.

Informing the media about the NCOC decisions, Umar said that the government would launch a massive vaccination campaign across the country within two to three days.

“We cannot stop Omicron but can reduce its effects by adopting preventive measures,” he added.

Talking about the government’s preventive measures, the minister said that they were tightening restrictions for the passengers coming from abroad and increasing testing capacity in high-risk areas.

He urged the masses to get themselves fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. 

The minister further stated that the individual at high-risk of contracting the virus will be given a booster jab.

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Karachi (Muhammad Yasir)

 The parent company of Naya Nazimabad, Javedan Corporation Limited (JCL), has received a sanction of PKR 1 billion from Habib Bank Limited (HBL) under SBP’s Islamic Refinance Facility at zero percent (0%) mark-up for construction of Naya Nazimabad Hospital.

Naya Nazimabad had initially planned to construct this hospital in 2025 but SBP’s Islamic Refinance Facility and HBL’s contribution to participate in this project initiative by passing on this facility at zero percent (0%) enabled and encouraged Naya Nazimabad to advance construction of the Hospital by 4 years.

Naya Nazimabad Hospital, a tertiary, not-for-profit but self-sustainable institution, will be developed in two phases. The first phase will consist of 250 beds across 4 floors and is targeted to be inaugurated by April 2023.

First phase’s architectural approval has been granted by Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), Government of Sindh, while engineering approval is in process at a swift pace. The Company plans to perform ground-breaking for the Hospital as soon as all requisite approvals processes are complete.

 “Naya Nazimabad is a labour of love for us and we are committed to providing a holistic living experience to all our residents with world-class amenities”, said Chairman, Javedan Corporation Limited, Mr. Arif Habib. “Ali Habib Medical Centre is already serving the community but we felt that there are not enough hospitals of this scale to cater to the area’s needs hence we have embarked on this journey so we may be able to offer quality and affordable health care to all.”

Naya Nazimabad is an integrated housing scheme which focuses on healthy community living. It is the largest master-planned, gated residential development in Karachi and will house more than 30,000 families at its completion. It has the provision for all necessary amenities for today’s living, within walking distance for its residents. Naya Nazimabad is a self-contained city, conceptualized and developed with the vision of providing a peaceful community atmosphere and a healthy lifestyle.

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