LAHORE: With 662 vaccination centers, 992 mobile vaccination cells and 15 mobile units operating across Punjab, vaccination drive is underway at fast pace in the province in a bid to tackle the coronavirus challenge.
Apart from vaccination of elderly people, vaccination of people above 18 years of age is also underway. Under the special vaccination drive which will continue till August 14 at union council level, targets has been set for vaccination of maximum people.
A spokesman of the Primary and Secondary Healthcare department said that coronavirus restrictions in Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad have been intensified amid 4th wave of the virus.
Moreover, the overall Corona positivity rate in Punjab remained 4.60%, as out of total 20946 coronavirus tests conducted during the last 24 hours; as many as 964 fresh virus cases and 19 fatalities were reported taking the provincial tally of cases to 361,458 and death toll to 11141.
With the recovery of 294 more corona positive patients, the total number of recovered patients in Punjab has reached to 334,599. On the other hand, as many as 2095 coronavirus recoveries were reported across the country during the last 24 hours taking the tally of recoveries to 954711 with recovery rate of 90.2%.
Out of 19 deaths reported during the past 24 hours, eight were reported in Lahore, 6 in Rawalpindi, 4 in Muzaffargarh and one in Gujranwala taking the death toll in these districts to 4447, 1633, 287 and 437, respectively.
Out of 964 fresh virus cases during the past 24 hours, as many as 432 were reported in Lahore, 206 in Rawalpindi, 43 in Multan and 67 in Faisalabad. As per break-up of corona cases and deaths in major cities of the province, Lahore has so far reported 185861 cases and 4447 deaths, Rawalpindi 29339 cases and 1633 deaths, Faisalabad 22100 cases and 1179 deaths, Multan 18420 cases and 873 deaths, Gujranwala 8531 cases and 437 deaths, Rahim Yar Khan 6396 cases and 276 deaths, Sargodha 8604 cases and 291 deaths, Sheikhupura 3931 cases and 123 deaths, Muzaffargarh 2354 cases and 287 deaths and Sialkot reported 7376 cases and 241 deaths.
Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare (P&SHD) Sarah Aslam, while reviewing the vaccination process, said that capacity of Minar-e-Pakistan vaccination center will be increased for convenience of the people and no error in data entry will be tolerated. She stated that record number of people vaccinated in Punjab on daily basis. Over 18.3 million people have been vaccinated across the province, she said.
Moreover, the Institute of Public Health (IPH) and Health Services Academy, Islamabad will jointly start advance courses in public health, joint research programmes on diseases, capacity building and training of faculty members as well as public health experts.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021