ISLAMABAD: Dr. Faisal Sultan, the de facto health chief of Pakistan, said on Thursday there was no evidence that a new strain of the coronavirus that had emerged in the United Kingdom had reached Pakistan.
Countries across the globe, including Pakistan, shut their borders to Britain on Monday due to fears about a highly infectious new coronavirus strain, causing travel chaos and raising the prospect of food shortages days before Britain is set to leave the European Union.
“We don’t have any scientific evidence available to us if the new strain from the United Kingdom has reached Pakistan,” Sultan told an online seminar organized by the Pakistan Society for Awareness and Community Empowerment (PACE). “But we are trying to find out if any new strain of coronavirus from UK or any other place has managed to reach here.”
“Even British authorities don’t have any strong evidence if the virus has become more infectious,” he added.
The World Health Organization also cautioned against major alarm over the new variant of the virus, saying this was a normal part of a pandemic’s evolution.
Citing data from Britain, WHO officials said they had no evidence that the variant made people sicker or was more deadly than existing strains of COVID-19, although it did seem to spread more easily.
Regarding vaccine availability in Pakistan, Sultan said the first deployment of the vaccine would start in the first quarter of the next year, saying efforts were underway to start vaccinating half a million frontline workers by the end of February to March 2021.
“We have three to four options available regarding vaccines but we are trying to acquire more than one vaccine for our people,” the health chief said. For the general population of Pakistan, between the ages of 18-60 years, a vaccine would likely be available in the second or third quarter of 2021, Sultan said.
“We are looking at European, Chinese and even Russian vaccine options but it would be a mix and match for us and we would acquire it from more than one source for our people,” the health chief said.
On Thursday, Pakistan reported 111 new deaths due to the novel coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the highest tally since the last week of June.
According to the ministry of health’s COVID-19 portal, Pakistan recorded 2,256 new infections in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of cases to 465,070, with 9,668 deaths.
No evidence new coronavirus strain from UK has reached Pakistan — health chief
https://arab.news/8b3za
No evidence new coronavirus strain from UK has reached Pakistan — health chief
- Dr. Sultan says first deployment of COVD-19 vaccine would start in the first quarter of the next year
- Pakistan records highest single-day COVID-19 fatalities in nearly six months with 111 deaths
Imran Khan’s party calls for ‘shutter-down’ strike on second anniversary of Pakistan elections
- Khan’s PTI party claims 2024 general elections’ results were rigged in their opponents’ favor
- Pakistan’s government denies the allegations, says polls were conducted in transparent manner
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has called on the masses to observe a countrywide “shutter-down” strike in protest against alleged rigging today, Sunday, on the second anniversary of the Feb. 8, 2024, general elections.
Millions of people took to polling booths across the country on Feb. 8, 2024, to vote for their national and provincial candidates. However, the polling was marred by a nationwide shutdown of cellphone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by the PTI and other opposition parties. The caretaker government at the time and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) both rejected the allegations.
Khan’s PTI candidates contested the Feb. 8 elections as independents after the party was barred from the polls. They won the most seats but fell short of the majority needed to form a government, which was made by a smattering of rival political parties led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The government insists the polling was conducted transparently and that Khan’s party was not denied a fair chance.
“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the opposition alliance Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (TTAP) are holding a nationwide shutter-down strike today,” Haleem Adil Sheikh, president of the PTI’s chapter in Sindh, told Arab News.
“We had appealed to the people to keep their businesses closed today because on this day, the people of Pakistan were deprived of their right to send their true representatives to parliament.”
Sheikh said the party was also mourning the victims of a deadly suicide blast in Islamabad on Friday which killed over 30 people.
TTAP chief and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, appealed to police in Sindh and Punjab not to disturb people who were participating in the strike.
“The people of Pakistan must express their anger by closing their shops,” Achakzai said on Saturday while speaking to reporters.
Khan was ousted from power in April 2022 after what is widely believed to be a falling out with the country’s powerful top generals. The army denies it interferes in politics.
He has been in prison since August 2023 and faces a slew of legal challenges that ruled him out of the Feb. 8 general elections and which he says are politically motivated to keep him and his party away from power.
In January 2025, an accountability court convicted Khan and his wife in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust land corruption case, sentencing him to 14 years and her to seven years after finding that the trust was used to acquire land and funds in exchange for alleged favors. The couple denies any wrongdoing.
