ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's central pandemic response body asked the country's provincial authorities on Thursday to increase the pace of their vaccination campaign, reported Radio Pakistan, as the world anticipates an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases after the emergence of a new coronavirus variant.
The omicron virus was first detected in South Africa and is said to be highly transmissible. Media reports indicate it has also been causing severe infection among the young population of the African state.
Pakistan's National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) urged the federating units to hasten their immunization campaign during a meeting held in Islamabad earlier today.
The country's pandemic response body "stressed upon the provinces to speed up the vaccination process amid rising trend of Omicron variant across the globe as vaccination is the only way to prevent the spread of new the COVID variant," Radio Pakistan reported.
It added that the forum "discussed the current status of production and distribution process of oxygen, city-wise COVID-19 vaccination process and agreed upon taking strict measures regarding the obligatory vaccination regime."
Pakistan's planning minister Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, said earlier this week it was "impossible" to block the omicron coronavirus variant from entering the country only a few days after the government imposed a travel ban on six African countries and Hong Kong.
He mentioned the only protection against the mutated virus was to increase the vaccination rate in Pakistan.
Pakistan's pandemic response body asks provinces to speed up COVID-19 vaccination drive
https://arab.news/z5n3u
Pakistan's pandemic response body asks provinces to speed up COVID-19 vaccination drive
- The National Command and Operation Center issues the instruction as the omicron coronavirus variant spreads across the world
- The new variant is said to be highly transmissible and has also been causing severe infection among young people
Blast kills six policemen in northwest Pakistan amid Afghanistan operation
- The explosion targeted a police vehicle in Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
- It comes after Pakistan’s overnight ‘precision strikes’ against militant hideouts in Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: At least six policemen were killed in an explosion in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the interior ministry said on Friday, amid Pakistan’s continuing strikes against alleged militant hideouts in Afghanistan.
The explosion took place in the Lakki Marwat district near a police vehicle following an attempted drone strike by Afghan Taliban forces in Kohat, according to Pakistani officials.
Pakistan has struggled to contain a surge in militant attacks in KP, which borders Afghanistan, by the Pakistani Taliban, who have mounted assaults since the Afghan Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
“The brave soldiers of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police sacrificed their lives today for the nation’s peaceful tomorrow,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said, lauding police personnel in the restive region.
In a statement issued from his office, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack in Lakki Marwat and extended his prayers and best wishes for the deceased and injured personnel.
“We will never let sacrifices of police personnel and security forces go in vain,” he said. We are determined to completely eradicate terrorism from the country.”
The bomb attack came a day after two suspected militants were killed and four others were arrested during a joint operation conducted by police, counter-terrorism department and pro-government militias in the same district, police said.
Islamabad accuses Afghanistan’s Taliban government of failing to rein in militant groups that it says use Afghan soil to plan and launch attacks in Pakistan, a charge Kabul denies.
Last month, Pakistan conducted air strikes against what it said were Pakistani Taliban and Daesh targets in Afghanistan, provoking the Afghan side to retaliate across their shared border. The two neighbors have since been locked in a conflict.
