ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to allow fully Covid-19 vaccinated spectators to watch the second phase of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches till February 15 at 50 percent stadium capacity and from February 16 onwards at 100 percent capacity.
The decision in this regard was taken here on Monday by the meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) held under the chairmanship of Chairman NCOC Asad Umar.
The NCOC moved up the capacity of spectators from 25 percent to 50 percent and permitted children under 12 to enter the stadium during the PSL Lahore leg matches.
The NCOC had allowed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to fill the stadium at 25 percent capacity during the Karachi leg and barred children under 12 from the stadium. The PCB received flak for banning children from watching cricket at the stadium.
Now in second leg of the PSL being held in Lahore, the NCOC has allowed fully vaccinated spectators to watch the games at 50 percent stadium capacity till February 15 and from February 16 onwards, at 100 percent capacity of the Gaddafi Stadium.
The Lahore leg matches which will be staged completely under the lights of the Gaddafi Stadium starting on February 10, with the unbeaten Multan Sultans facing off against Peshawar Zalmi.
The NCOC has also decided to abolish the rapid antigen test (RAT) for inbound passengers at all airports across the country, with effect from February 8. However, the RAT will continue to be conducted for deportees from foreign countries and non-vaccinated individuals arriving from land border terminals, it added.
Moreover, the Covid-19 data released by the NCOC said that in the past 24 hours the country has recorded 3,338 coronavirus cases by conducting 44,779 tests with a positivity ratio of 7.45 percent.The detection of 3,338 cases on Monday is the lowest number since January 12, when 3,019 positive cases were detected.
The new cases, however, pushed Pakistan’s total coronavirus case count to 1,463,111. The country also reported 4,905 Covid-19 recoveries pushing the national toll to 1,344,403 since the pandemic outbreak, the recovery ratio within the past few days has also gone up from 90.6 percent to 91.9 percent.
According to the NCOC data, the country reported 38 Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the national death toll to 29,516. According to the NCOC, the toll of active Covid-19 cases, which was hovering over 100,000 mark up to the past week has declined to 89,192 owing to more recoveries. As per official data, at present, a total 1,684 Covid-19 patients are under treatment in critical care units of various coronavirus dedicated health facilities across the country.
In terms of coronavirus cases, Sindh is top with 552,262 cases, of which, 863 were reported in the past 24 hours, followed by Punjab with 489,655 cases, of which, 1,052 were recorded in the past 24 hours, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) with 203,110 cases, of which, 920 were reported in the past 24 hours, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) with 131,628 cases, of which, 291 were reported in the past 24 hours, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) with 40,741 cases, of which, 173 were recorded in the past 24 hours, Balochistan with 34,819 cases, of which, 34 were registered in the past 24 hours, and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) 10,896 cases, of which, five were detected in the past 24 hours.
In terms of Covid-19 deaths, Punjab is the most-affected province with 13,252 deaths, of which, 10 occurred in the past 24 hours, followed by Sindh with 7,905 deaths, of which, 14 were registered in the past 24 hours, KPK with 6,053 deaths, of which 12 were reported in the past 24 hours, the ICT with 988 deaths, of which, two were reported in the past 24 hours, AJK with 761 deaths, Balochistan with 368 deaths, and G-B with 189 deaths is on the bottom of the list.
Additionally, the NCOC said that 1,842,955 doses were administered to the people during the last 24 hours, taking the total to 185,916,838. “38 percent of [the] total population and 56 percent of eligible population stand vaccinated!” the NCOC tweeted.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022