https://arab.news/8y6uk
- Only vaccinated individuals and those with medical exemption certificate will be allowed to travel
- National Institute of Health says results of suspected omicron cases will be received by Monday
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities have launched a special drive to implement the “obligatory vaccination regime” in the transport sector that would continue till December 18, the country’s pandemic response body said on Sunday.
Pakistan has witnessed a significant decline in coronavirus cases in recent months. Officials say the COVID-19 curve has flattened in Pakistan due to an aggressive vaccination drive carried out by the government, with over 132 million people having received at least one dose of a vaccine.
The South Asian country has reported 1,289,049 total infections and 28,830 coronavirus-related deaths since the pandemic began in February 2020.
“All types of transport (public/private) intercity/intracity will be checked/inspected at entry/exit points, bus stands/terminals, toll plazas, interchanges, rest areas and inter-provincial boundary on National Highways and Motorways,” Pakistan’s pandemic response body, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), said in a statement.
“Only vaccinated individuals and individuals holding medical exemption certificate will be allowed to travel.”
Efforts would also be made to inoculate unvaccinated vehicle staff or passengers on the spot through Mobile Vaccination Teams (MVTs), NCOC said.
Meanwhile, according to the local media reports, the National Institute of Health (NIH) has said results of samples of three suspected cases of the omicron variant of the coronavirus will be received by Monday.
Pakistani health officials said this week they had detected the country’s first suspected case of the new omicron variant in the southern port city of Karachi.
Of the 46,006 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, 288 came positive and the country reported seven deaths, NCOC said today.