Pakistan’s coronavirus positivity ratio drops to 4.45%

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s national coronavirus positivity ratio has dropped to 4.45 percent, government data released on Monday said, after touching nearly 10 percent last month.
Pakistan has reported 534,041 COVID-19 cases so far, and 11,318 deaths, far lower than what officials had feared.
Pakistani regulators approved China’s Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use last Monday, two days after AstraZeneca’s vaccine, developed with Oxford University, was also approved.
Pakistan is also nearing completion of a phase three trial of another Chinese vaccine from Cansino Biologics Inc.
“Highest positivity ratio observed in Karachi 11.39% followed by Peshawar 9.72% and Mirpur 9.62%,” government data from Monday said. “2,218 Covid patients are in critical condition across Pakistan.”
Some 17,500 people have enrolled in the Cansino trial so far, and initial results would be available in the beginning of February, health minister Faisal Sultan said at a press conference last Wednesday. Sultan said if the Cansino vaccine proved effective Pakistan could look to procure 20 million doses, adding that Pakistani officials had also been meeting with UK officials for discussions on procuring vaccines from there.
Pakistan is hoping to eventually vaccinate at least 70% of its adult population to achieve herd immunity, Sultan said.
Some 57% of Pakistanis say the coronavirus threat is exaggerated, and 42% say it’s a foreign conspiracy, according to a December 2020 poll conducted by Gallup Pakistan.
Restrictions to curb the pandemic, called Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), are rarely followed in Pakistan where the last comprehensive lockdown was lifted in May.