Pakistan aims to vaccinate 40% of population next month

A health worker inoculates a student with a dose of the CanSino Biologics' Covid-19 vaccine at Jamia Naeemia seminary in Lahore, Pakistan, on July 12, 2021. (AFP)

• New push in the vaccination drive comes as infections are increasing due to local transmission of the delta variant
• Country of 220 million has so far administered COVID-19 vaccine doses to 25 million people

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is accelerating its coronavirus vaccination drive to have 40 percent of the population inoculated by the end of August, Planning Minister Asad Umar said on Sunday.
The new push in the vaccination campaign comes as infection numbers are now increasing again, after Pakistan started easing wide-ranging coronavirus last month. The surge is blamed on local transmission of the more aggressive delta variant of the coronavirus, which officials have reported is reaching alarming levels in the country’s major cities.
The country of 220 million has so far administered COVID-19 vaccine doses to 25 million people.
“By end August all major cities target is to have at least 40 percent of eligible population vaccinated,” Umar said.

Here's the record pic.twitter.com/ztJRm9lGQX

— farrukh saleem (@SaleemFarrukh) July 25, 2021

On Sunday, over 2,800 new infections and 45 deaths have been reported in Pakistan, while the test positivity rate increased to 6.32 percent.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday crossed the one million mark since the beginning of the pandemic last year.