‘We remain vulnerable, despite sharp decline’: Asad reiterates call for Pakistanis to get vaccinated

Islamabad: Overseeing the national response to the COVID outbreak, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar Thursday reiterated calls for Pakistanis on getting coronavirus vaccine to meet ‘the set vaccination target’ and avoid a potential fifth wave.    

On his official twitter handle, head of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) warned that despite the decline in the Covid-19 cases, the whole nation will remain vulnerable if a large number of people fail to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

“To ensure there is no 5th wave of covid we have to meet vaccination targets set. Otherwise despite sharp decline in cases we remain vulnerable, if large number of people remain unvaccinated,” he wrote.

“Remember that 2nd dose is vital for protection against covid. Get fully vaccinated,” he urged.

To ensure there is no 5th wave of covid we have to meet vaccination targets set. Otherwise despite sharp decline in cases we remain vulnerable, if large number of people remain unvaccinated. Remember that 2nd dose is vital for protection against covid. Get fully vaccinated

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) October 21, 2021

Expressing concern over the slow pace of COVID-19 vaccination drive in various cities, Asad Umar said that the district admin and health teams in these cities should improve their performance.

Umar termed the vaccination progress in Islamabad, Peshawar, Gilgit and Mirpur as ‘best’, while terming the progress in Skardu, Charsadda and Sargodha as ‘good’.

However, the minister said that vaccination progress needs improvement in Hyderabad, Nowshera, Faisalabad, Quetta, Karachi, Mingora and Mardan.

Best vaccination progress : islamabad, peshawar, gilgit, mirpur. Good progress: skardu, charsadda, sargodha. Needing improvement : Hyderabad, nowshera, Faisalabad, quetta, karachi, mingora, mardan. District admin & health teams in these cities need to improve performance

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) October 21, 2021

It appears that Pakistan may finally be curbing the pandemic’s impact as COVID related hospitalizations and deaths are decreasing dramatically.

Amid a steady decline in Covid-19 infections, Pakistan's coronavirus positivity ratio further fell to 1.40% with 622 new cases. Over the past week, there has been an average of fewer than 700 new COVID cases reported per day in Pakistan.

According to NCOC, around 622 cases of coronavirus were reported while 16 people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 28,328.