Pakistan receives another batch of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan Wednesday received another tranche of half a million coronavirus vaccines doses donated by China.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan and other officials received the the batch of vaccines at Nur Khan Airbase.

Speaking on the occasion, Sultan appreciated Chinese government for always supporting Pakistan in tough times.

According to Chinese state broadcaster CGTN, this is the second batch donated following an earlier lot that arrived on February 1.

Half a million vaccines donated by #China arrived in #Pakistan on Wednesday. This is the second batch donated following an early lot that arrived on February 1. pic.twitter.com/cV3hZMxiS7

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) March 17, 2021

On February 1, Pakistan received the first tranche of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine.

The PAF plane had brought 500,000 vaccine doses that China had promised to provide to Pakistan in January.

On Wednesday, another 61 people have died across Pakistan during the last twenty-four hours, according to the government figures.

According to latest statistics, as many as 2351 new cases of Covid-19 were reported while 575,867 patients have so far recovered from the disease.

Yesterday, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) revealed that the number of active Covid-19 cases had increased by about 50 per cent in three weeks.

The national positivity ratio has been recorded at 5.7 per cent.

The number of cases started increasing after the NCOC had on Feb 24 decided to relax most restrictions on commercial activities, schools, offices and other workplaces, allowing them to function at full strength.

However, with no let-up in Covid-19 cases, the NCOC re-imposed the restrictions on March 10.

The NCOC also announced a two-week spring vacation in educational institutions in 10 cities, whereas Balochistan and Sindh were suggested to limit attendance to 50pc.

Prime Minister Imran Khan had launched the vaccination campaign on Feb 2 and the frontline healthcare workers were inoculated in the first phase.