Coronavirus in Pakistan: Vaccination for 40-49 age group begins today

• Pakistan begins coronavirus vaccination for people ageing between 40 to 49 years across the country from today.
  
• The vaccine registration has been going on since April 27.
  
• Vaccination centres are vaccinating people in two shifts during Ramadan.
  

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will start coronavirus vaccination for people ageing between 40 to 49 years across the country from today.

The vaccine registration for the age group has been going on since April 27, whereas the walk-in vaccinations for people aged 50 and above are underway.

Vaccination centres are vaccinating people in two shifts during Ramadan, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

Pakistan is currently vaccinating people who are 50 plus and healthcare workers with Chinese vaccines.

Read more: Coronavirus: Pakistanis aged 40-49 years old to be vaccinated from May 3

A digital portal has been launched by the federal government for the registration through which a code is assigned to the person and then they can go to a designated vaccination centre and get a jab.

Federal Minister for Development and Planning Asad Umar had previously announced that over 100,000 people had been vaccinated across Pakistan on April 29, for the second consecutive day.

"Second successive day of more than 1 lakh vaccinations. Encouraging to see the pace of registration also picking up. Vaccination of those between 40 and 49 years of age will be starting from next Monday the 3rd of May," he tweeted.

‘No extension in lockdown’

Meanwhile, Asad Umar has said the third wave of COVID-19 is spreading fast in the country so everyone should adopt standard operating procedures to combat the virus.

The federal minister, according to a Radio Pakistan report, said the government is not going to extend lockdown further and no need of imposing more restrictions in this regard.

Asad Umar said the government is going to import more 6,000 metric tons of oxygen and five 5,000 cylinders to meet the demand of the hospitals for coronavirus patients.

He said almost 100 million people would be vaccinated in Pakistan and it is the duty of the government to protect the lives of the people.

Meanwhile, in a tweet, Asad Umar said the need for caution in Pakistan remains high and the next few weeks are critical.

He said globally COVID-19 continues to devastate as daily deaths exceeding 15,000 and new positive cases are being reported more than nine hundred thousand in a day.