LAHORE: A senior health official in Pakistan’s Punjab province said on Sunday there had been a “significant decline” in coronavirus cases across the province, local media reported.
Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, reported one death and 57 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, according to official figures.
“Special standard operating procedures (SOPs) have been issued for various sectors to bring about a further decrease in the virus cases,” the Express Tribune newspaper quoted Punjab health care secretary Imran Sikandar Baloch as saying.
The official also urged the general public to “maintain social distancing, wear masks and contact 1033 helpline for any guidance or complaints.”
Pakistan recorded two more fatalities and 358 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, according to official data.
The South Asian nation also continues to report cases of the omicron variant. The strain was first detected in South Africa last month and within a few weeks of its discovery has spread across nearly 90 countries in the world.
On Saturday, Pakistan’s federal capital reported its first case of the new strain, a senior official announced, saying the patient had traveled to Islamabad from Karachi.
Pakistan reported its first omicron case in Karachi on December 13, though many other people were suspected to have contracted the variant in other parts of the country, including Balochistan.
Last week, Pakistani Planning Minister Asad Umar requested eligible Pakistani nationals to get themselves vaccinated after the emergence of omicron cases in the country. He said the spread of the new variant across the world had made it “even more urgent” to increase the pace of Pakistan’s vaccination campaign.
So far, 92,086,806 people have received their first dose of anti-COVID vaccines in Pakistan, while 65,149,948 have been fully inoculated, official data shows.
COVID-19 cases declining across Pakistan’s Punjab province — health official
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COVID-19 cases declining across Pakistan’s Punjab province — health official
- Health secretary says special directives issued to bring about “further decrease” in cases
- Pakistan continues to report new cases of omicron variant, first one identified in capital on Saturday
Pakistan, seven Muslim nations back Palestinian technocratic body, stress Gaza-West Bank unity
- The National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip was announced on January 14
- Muslim nations call for consolidation of the ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and seven other Muslim-majority countries on Thursday welcomed the formation of a temporary Palestinian technocratic body to administer Gaza, stressing that it must manage daily civilian affairs while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank amid the ongoing peace efforts.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Türkiye, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates said the newly announced National Committee for the Administration of the Gaza Strip would play a central role during the second phase of a broader peace plan aimed at ending the war and paving the way for Palestinian self-governance.
“The Ministers emphasize the importance of the National Committee commencing its duties in managing the day-to-day affairs of the people of Gaza, while preserving the institutional and territorial link between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, ensuring the unity of Gaza, and rejecting any attempts to divide it,” the statement said.
The committee, announced on Jan. 14, is a temporary transitional body established under United Nations Security Council Resolution 2803 and is to operate in coordination with the Palestinian Authority, the ministers said.
The statement said the move forms part of the second phase of US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Peace Plan for Gaza, which the ministers said they supported, praising Trump’s efforts to end the war, ensure the withdrawal of Israeli forces and prevent the annexation of the occupied West Bank.
The top leaders of all eight Muslim countries attended a meeting with Trump in New York last September, shortly before he unveiled the Gaza peace plan.
The ministers also called for the consolidation of the ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian aid into Gaza, early recovery and reconstruction and the eventual return of the Palestinian Authority to administer the territory, leading to a just and sustainable peace based on UN resolutions and a two-state solution on pre-1967 lines with East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
