ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s federal COVID-19 response body said on Thursday the daily positivity ratio of coronavirus infections was stable in all cities except Karachi, where a low number of tests was giving the perception of virus spread, adding that officials were strictly monitoring the situation.
The positivity rate in the southern port city of Karachi crossed 21 percent in the last 24 hours, according to provincial government data, but the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), which oversees the COVID-19 response in the country, blamed it on a low number of tests.
“The daily positivity rate of coronavirus infections is stable in all major cities, and there is nothing to panic about,” Nazia Hassan Khan, a spokesperson for the National Institute of Health in Islamabad, told Arab News.
She said the NCOC had directed all provincial governments, especially Sindh, to increase the number of COVID-19 tests to ascertain the actual spread of the virus: “The low number of tests has pushed Karachi positivity up and it looks like the virus is spreading fast in the metropolitan city.”
In the last 24 hours, a total of 650 COVID-19 tests were conducted in Karachi, of which 138, or 21,23 percent, came out positive, according to official data.
Data shows Islamabad registered a COVID-19 positivity ratio of 2.5 percent, Abbottabad 8.7 percent, Peshawar 3.36 percent, Faisalabad 2.3 percent, and Lahore 1.91 percent. The country registered an overall positivity of 2.14 percent with 268 positive cases and one death in the last 24 hours. A total of 75 patients are currently admitted in critical care.
The country’s daily positivity rate registered a sharp decline from the peak of 13 percent on January 22 to 0.37 percent on April 12, according to official data.
The NIH official said the NCOC was monitoring the situation and may issue additional health guidelines ahead of the Eid Al-Adha religious holiday, which falls net month, if infections continued to increase.
“The NCOC has issued directions to all provinces to give booster doses to all eligible individuals to curb spread of the virus,” she said.
Since the COVID-19 vaccine program was rolled out in February 2021, Pakistan has fully vaccinated 125 million individuals aged 12 years and above and administered a total of 262 million doses so far. Some 57 percent of its eligible population has been fully vaccinated till date.
Official data available with Arab News shows Sindh province is the first federating unit to achieve the target of 34.57 million (over 100 percent) people of the eligible population aged 12 years and above fully immunized against COVID-19. A total of 9.75 million, or 28.45 percent of the eligible population, have also received additional booster doses of the vaccine.
Punjab province has administered the COVID-19 vaccine to 86 percent of its eligible population followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province with 64 percent.
Dr. Zafar Mirza, a former adviser to the government on public health, suggested authorities increase surveillance and the number of tests across the country to keep a check on the virus.
“The daily positivity percentage in Karachi should ring alarm bells for relevant government officials,” he said, “and immediate steps should be taken to address it.”