ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s coronavirus test positivity rate was below 5 percent for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday as new infections continue to drop and vaccination drive is picking up pace.
Pakistan is currently in the middle of its third wave of coronavirus that authorities say has begun to decline, with less than 2,500 new COVID-19 cases recorded in the past 24 hours.
The country’s positivity rate has dropped from 14 percent three weeks ago to 4.42 percent on Saturday, according to data from the National Command Operation Center (NCOC).
Pakistan has recently ramped up its immunization campaign against the virus and as of Friday vaccinated over 6.7 million of its 220 million population. Initially, it had to deal with vaccination hesitancy and a shortage of vaccine supplies, but now some 300,000 people are vaccinated every day.
It has secured over 18 million doses of various vaccines with the help of China and the World Health Organization (WHO), with millions more in the pipeline according to officials.
More than 100,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine arrived in Pakistan through the COVAX facility on Friday. The first COVAX batch arrived on May 8, with over 1.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The country has also successfully started local production of the Chinese single-shot vaccine, CanSino.
On Thursday, the NCOC opened vaccination registrations for all people over 18 years of age, which brings almost 100 percent of the country’s eligible population into the fold of the inoculation drive.
The country has registered 916,239 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 20,680 confirmed deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
