LAHORE: The novel coronavirus continued to play havoc, as Punjab reported 103 more deaths including 34 each in Lahore and Multan during the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 8,327.
This is the third consecutive day that Punjab is reporting over 100 deaths due to coronavirus. Most of the fatalities were reported from Lahore (34), Multan (34), Gujranwala (01), Rawalpindi (02), Faisalabad (09), Sargodha (02) and Rahim Yar Khan (02) taking the death toll in these cities to 3428, 575, 300, 1307, 840, 207 and 173, respectively.
Out of 26,338 corona tests conducted during the last 24 hours, as many as 2,674 fresh virus cases were reported across the province taking the provincial tally of cases to 298,818. The overall positivity rate of the virus in the province declined to 10.15% from previous 12.94 percent.
The provincial metropolis is facing heavy burden of virus positive cases, as 1331 fresh cases and 34 deaths were reported during the last 24 hours. In the public sector hospitals of Lahore, the isolation wards as well as HDUs are heavily occupied by the patients.
With the recovery of 1,254 more virus patients, the number of recovered patients in the province reached to 242,068. On the other hand, as many as 3,699 coronavirus recoveries were reported across the country taking the tally of total recoveries to 708,193 showing the recovery rate of 86.8 percent. The health system is also burdened while the number of serious patients on ventilators in hospitals is increasing.
As per break up of corona cases and deaths in major cities of the province, Lahore has so far reported 158,090 cases and 3,428 deaths, Rawalpindi 23,204 cases and 1,307 deaths, Faisalabad 18,298 cases and 840 deaths, Multan 14,101 cases and 575 deaths, Bahawalpur 6,590 cases and 207 deaths, Gujranwala 7,409 cases and 300 deaths, Gujrat 6,657 cases and 108 deaths, Rahim Yar Khan 4,434 cases and 173 deaths, Sargodha 6,708 cases and 207 deaths, D G Khan 205 cases and 77 deaths and Sialkot reported 6,577 cases and 211 deaths.
On the other hand, vaccination of elderly patients is underway at designated corona vaccine centres. Over 115,000 people between the age group of 59-60 were vaccinated. More vaccination centres will be added as citizens are turning up in overwhelming numbers at centres, an official of health department, said, adding: "Uninterrupted vaccine supply is being ensured at all vaccination centers."
The UHS vice-chancellor Prof Javed Akram said that five vaccines including CanSino, Sputnik V, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Sinovac had been approved for use in Pakistan against Covid-19. He added that CanSino vaccine in regional Pakistan-specific data showed 100 per cent efficacy at preventing severe disease and 74.8 percent coverage for symptomatic disease.
Regarding Covid-19 vaccine, he said that as of February 2021, at least seven different vaccines across three platforms had been rolled out.
"More than 200 additional vaccines candidates are in the process of development of which more than 60 are in clinical development", he said, adding: "The best Covid-19 vaccine is the one that is available to you.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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