Islamabad (Web Desk): The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Thursday announced that August 31 deadline for COVID-19 vaccination has been set for the public sector employees, law enforcement agencies, transport sector and the staff working in hotels, restaurants, wedding halls and banks.
Briefing the media alongside Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan after the NCOC meeting, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that the steps have been taken to protect the lives and livelihoods of the people.
He said only those people will be allowed to travel by air from August 1 who would have taken at least one vaccination shot.
The minister added that the teachers will have to get themselves vaccinated before August 1 to continue their responsibilities in the educational institutions and the students aged 18 and above will also have to receive the vaccination jab by August 31.
He said those transporting the students to schools and colleges will also have to get the vaccination shots by August 31.
Asad Umar said that about 850,000 vaccine doses were administered last day and the target is to cross the mark of 1 million doses in a single day.
He expressed the hope that the Pakistani nation would come out of this challenge successfully and would become an example of success among developing nations in dealing with the Covid-19 and also in anti-coronavirus vaccination drive.
In his remarks on the occasion, SAPM Dr Faisal Sultan voiced concerns over increase in the number of COVID-19 cases due which the burden on hospitals especially in Karachi is increasing.
He urged the people to observe the health guidelines to check the spread of the pandemic.
On the other hand, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 1,020,324 on Thursday after 4,119 new coronavirus cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 23,209 with 76 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 937,354 after another 1,612 virus recoveries were reported.
