ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has started work on formulating and packing the single-dose CanSino Bio vaccine locally, officials said.

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH) authorities, the raw material for the vaccine’s production has been imported from China and the work on formulating and packing the vaccine has locally been started.

The NIH packed vaccine will be available for the masses by the end of ongoing month, the officials said.

The NIH would be able to produce over 100,000 doses per day by the end of May, for which raw material has been imported from China on May 4th.

“Raw material enough to produce 120,000 doses of the CanSino Bio vaccine per day was imported to Pakistan,” the officials said. The NIH officials had earlier announced that Pakistan would start packaging the vaccine in May.

The NIH officials had said the arrangements to prepare CanSino Bio vaccine were already completed, adding that they were waiting for the raw material of the vaccine to arrive in Pakistan.

Chinese experts are also present in Islamabad to help in the preparation of vaccine, the official had revealed, adding that the NIH had started the venture in collaboration with a Chinese company.

Meanwhile the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration is to enforce partial lockdown in the federal capital from Friday evening (today) to limit spread of Covid-19 during Eidul Fitr holidays.

However, a week-long official lockdown would come into force from May 8th and would last till May 16, said Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat.

In a video message shared with media, Shafqat said all kinds of public transportation would remain temporarily suspended.

Shopping malls, business centres, commercial activities, parks, recreational spots, bus stands would be shut down, while the enforcement teams would remain in place to enforce the orders.He appealed the residents to complete their Eid chores before Friday evening to avoid any inconvenience.

Meanwhile, in a notification issued here, the local administration has made some exemption.

According to order, grocery shops, bakeries, and sweet shops were allowed to remain open on a daily basis till 6pm. Tandoors, milk shops, and takeaways would also remain open.

Similarly, Ramzan/sasta bazaars would operate till Eidul Fitr.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021