The NCOC also announced vaccination certificate policy according to which o one will be allowed to travel without a vaccination certificate with effect from August 1.
ISLAMABAD ( JAVED MAHMOOD )
Pakistan government is imposing ban on air travel by non-vaccinated countrymen from August 1, 2021. This ban is being imposed on the recommendation of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) which supports maximum compliance to government’s Covid vaccination drive in the country.
The NCOC also announced vaccination certificate policy according to which o one will be allowed to travel without a vaccination certificate with effect from August 1.
Federal Minister for Planning, who is also head of the NCOC yesterday disclosed that 4th Covid wave has begun in Pakistan due to “poor SOP compliance, coupled with the spread of variants of concern, Indian variant also known as delta variant, in particular, are the main cause.”
To ensure maximum vaccination, the government has said that the following sectors must get vaccinated by July 31: (i) Private, corporate sector employees. (ii) Small, medium and large industry employees. (iii) Workers associated with the agriculture and media sectors, lawyers, factory workers, and those who work in markets, including cart vendors. (iv) All workers associated with the transport and hotel industry. (v) All gymnasium workers. (vi) Employees of mosques, including imams. (vii) Employees of workshops and wedding halls. (viii) Students on the other hand, aged 18 and above, are required to get vaccinated by August 31.
“Field reports are showing a complete disregard of the condition of vaccination for those attending indoor weddings and going to indoor restaurants and gyms. If the owners of these facilities do not show responsibility and ensure compliance, there will be no choice but to shut them down,” he tweeted.
The warning from the chief of the NCOC came after the country reported a positivity rate of over three percent for third consecutive day.
According to the NCOC, the country in the past 24 hours recorded 1,737 new coronavirus cases after 47,528 tests were conducted.
The country last reported 830 daily cases on July 6th. The number of active cases in the country has also gone up to 35,573. A steady increase has also been seen in the positivity rate, with Friday morning’s rate recorded at 3.65 percent.
Another 25 people died from coronavirus in Pakistan, data by the NCOC showed. This pushed the nation’s death tally to 22,520.
The total number of cases from the virus since the pandemic started has reached 969,476 while 911,383 people have so far recovered from the virus.