Health
Pakistan buys more than 30m COVID-19 shots
Pakistan has procured more than Thirty million doses of coronavirus vaccines from three Chinese companies.
Earlier, the vaccines that Pakistanis were administered were given as a gift from various countries—mostly from China.
According to GNN, the country recently purchased 5 million doses of Sinovac, 20 million dosages of a single-shot CanSino while it purchased 5.5 million doses of Sinofarm vaccine from china.
Meanwhile, three special planes of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) have returned home from China carrying the anti-coronavirus injections.
Earlier, a special flight carrying coronavirus vaccine has landed from China at Nur Khan Airbase on Saturday while three more PIA flights reached Beijing.
Vaccines were loaded on the Boeing 777 airplanes, with all three supposed to carry a total of one million doses. Pakistan's government has ratcheted up its vaccine program in response to the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic. All government departments are working overtime to counter the fast-spreading virus.
In March a flight carrying 500,000 vaccine doses reached the country which are now being used to inoculate the population. The first batch of vaccines had arrived from China in February which was used to inoculate frontline health workers.
Pakistan is currently in the midst of a vicious third wave of the pandemic with hospitals filling up quickly. As per the NCOC, during the previous 24 hours, 157 people lost their lives, a record since the beginning of the pandemic. While Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were initially taking the brunt of the third wave, now Sindh and Balochistan seem to be in the grip of the disease.
Measures announced on Friday included the closing of all outdoor dining, schools and educational institutes in areas where positivity is above 5% and strict closure of business by 6:00 pm.