KARACHI: The government in Pakistan’s southeastern Sindh province has decided to make a booster dose of coronavirus vaccine compulsory for the fully vaccinate people after the discovery of the new Omicron strain of COVID-19, local media reported on Sunday.
The new, heavily mutated COVID-19 variant spread across the globe on Sunday, shutting borders and renewing curbs as the European Union chief said governments faced a “race against time” to understand the strain.
Indonesia announced similar entry restrictions on Sunday and Angola became the first southern African country to suspend all flights from its regional neighbors Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa.
The Omicron strain has cast doubt on global efforts to battle the pandemic because of fears that it is highly infectious, forcing countries to reimpose measures many had hoped were a thing of the past.
On Sunday, the Sindh health department announced that fully vaccinated individuals would be administered a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine to prevent the spread of the new virus strain, Urdu-language Jang newspaper reported.
“Booster jabs are currently being administered at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center and Dow University of Health Sciences Ojha Campus [in Karachi], but the scale of vaccination will be expanded across the province,” the report quoted Sindh Health Secretary Zulfiqar Ali Shah as saying.
No fee would be charged for the administration of the booster jab and the government was importing consignments of the vaccine for the purpose, the official said.
Shah requested fully vaccinated individuals to get the booster jab and advised those who were yet to get the basic vaccination to get themselves fully immunized against the virus.
The development came a day after Pakistan imposed a complete ban on travel from seven countries after the emergence of the Omicron strain in South Africa. These countries included South Africa, Hong Kong, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini and Botswana.
The National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the country’s central pandemic body, has asked aviation authorities to devise a mechanism for the screening of passengers traveling from these states through indirect flights.
It said Pakistani passengers would be allowed to travel after obtaining emergency exemptions and following certain requirements, including a vaccination certificate, negative PCR report and rapid antigen test on arrival.
Pakistan's Sindh makes booster dose compulsory after new COVID-19 variant discovery
https://arab.news/8qwyh
Pakistan's Sindh makes booster dose compulsory after new COVID-19 variant discovery
- Omicron strain spread across globe on Sunday shutting borders and renewing curbs
- The highly infectious strain has cast doubt on global efforts to battle the pandemic
Tens of thousands flee northwest Pakistan over fears of military operation
- More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled remote Tirah region bordering Afghanistan
- Government says no military operation underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
BARA, Pakistan: More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan over uncertainty of a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and officials said Tuesday.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has denied the claim by residents and provincial authorities. He said no military operation was underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, he said harsh weather, rather than military action, was driving the migration. His comments came weeks after residents started fleeing Tirah over fears of a possible army operation.
The exodus began a month after mosque loudspeakers urged residents to leave Tirah by Jan. 23 to avoid potential fighting. Last August, Pakistan launched a military operation against Pakistani Taliban in the Bajau r district in the northwest, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
Shafi Jan, a spokesman for the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, posted on X that he held the federal government responsible for the ordeal of the displaced people, saying authorities in Islamabad were retracting their earlier position about the military operation.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, whose party is led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has criticized the military and said his government will not allow troops to launch a full-scale operation in Tirah.
The military says it will continue intelligence-based operations against Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Though a separate group, it has been emboldened since the Afghan
Taliban returned to power in 2021. Authorities say many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and that hundreds of them have crossed into Tirah, often using residents as human shields when militant hideouts are raided.
Caught in the middle are the residents of Tirah, who continued arriving in Bara.
So far, local authorities have registered roughly 10,000 families — about 70,000 people — from Tirah, which has a population of around 150,000, said Talha Rafiq Alam, a local government administrator overseeing the relief effort. He said the registration deadline, originally set for Jan. 23, has been extended to Feb. 5.
He said the displaced would be able to return once the law-and-order situation improves.
Among those arriving in Bara and nearby towns was 35-year-old Zar Badshah, who said he left with his wife and four children after the authorities ordered an evacuation. He said mortar shells had exploded in villages in recent weeks, killing a woman and wounding four children in his village. “Community elders told us to leave. They instructed us to evacuate to safer places,” he said.
At a government school in Bara, hundreds of displaced lined up outside registration centers, waiting to be enrolled to receive government assistance. Many complained the process was slow.
Narendra Singh, 27, said members of the minority Sikh community also fled Tirah after food shortages worsened, exacerbated by heavy snowfall and uncertain security.
“There was a severe shortage of food items in Tirah, and that forced us to leave,” he said.
Tirah gained national attention in September, after an explosion at a compound allegedly used to store bomb-making materials killed at least 24 people. Authorities said most of the dead were militants linked to the TTP, though local leaders disputed that account, saying civilians, including women and children, were among the dead.
