ISLAMABAD: While four cities reported more than 10 per cent positivity of Covid-19 cases on Monday, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) has decided to conduct mass testing in educational institutions before taking a decision on their closure. decided.
In addition, 4,340 cases, the highest recorded in a 24-hour period in nearly five months, and seven deaths were reported in the last 24 hours and the national positivity rate stood at 8.71 per cent.
According to a document available with dawnKarachi registered 30.83 percent positivity rate, Lahore 13.05 percent, Islamabad 10.75 percent and Hyderabad 10.68 percent.
The NCOC held a meeting to consider possible ways to stop the spread of the dreaded disease by banning public gatherings, weddings, schools, restaurants and public transport.
According to an official statement, the session discussed pandemic curve chart data, national vaccine strategy and prevalence of the disease across the country.
The session was presided over by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and NCOC National Coordinator Major General Mohammad Zafar Iqbal and attended virtually by Dr Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health.
“Provincial Health and Education Minister also attended the meeting virtually and briefed the NCOC about the steps being taken for implementation of Non-drug Intervention (NPI) and COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in view of the spike in coronavirus cases . Global and regional trends in the Omicron virus were also discussed,” the statement said.
“Keeping in view the spread of the new disease, a new set of NPIs were presented and discussed with the provinces and the new set of NPIs would be implemented by the provinces in the next 48 hours after consultation process with all the stakeholders. ”
“The decision regarding educational institutions will be taken on the basis of positive cases data from various institutions for which mass testing is being done in educational institutions,” the statement said.
An official of the Ministry of National Health Services said that it was decided in the meeting that provinces can implement restrictions according to their needs but the main focus will be on implementation of SOPs.
“Federal and administrative units have been advised to take strict action in case of non-compliance of SOPs. We are not in favor of the lockdown as there are currently less than 900 hospitalized patients across the country, while more than 5,000 were hospitalized during the last wave of Covid-19,” he said. “Although more than 4,000 cases are being reported daily, the low number of hospitalizations suggests that a large number of people have been vaccinated, leading to mild symptoms in patients.”
The official advised people to get vaccinated and said that those who were vaccinated should go for a booster shot as the vaccine was the best defense against Covid-19 and in case of infection, it saved the patients from complications. .
chinese herbal medicine
Health officials on Monday announced the completion of a successful clinical trial of a Chinese traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of COVID-19, reports Reuters,
Jinhua Qinggan Granules (JHQG), a Chinese medicine manufactured by Juxichang (Beijing) Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., is already being used in the treatment of COVID-19 patients in China.
Professor Iqbal Choudhary, Director of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Science, told reporters, “Since it was tried on patients with different variants of Kovid-19, we expect it to be as effective on Omicron like other variants. ” ,
The trials were conducted on 300 patients who were treated at home, and will work on mild to moderate Covid-19 cases, Dr Raza Shah, the principal investigator in the trials told reporters, adding that the efficacy rate was around 82.67 pc.
The tests were approved by the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan.
Published in Dawn, January 18, 2022
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