Covid-19 Current Situation in Pakistan

Epidemic Weekly Report

March 19, 2021

Pakistan Business Management Division

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Epidemic Situation.............................................................................................................................4
Covid-19 Cases in Pakistan................................................................................................................4
Covid-19 situation in the country......................................................................................................4
Vaccine Updates................................................................................................................................5
Smart Lockdowns..............................................................................................................................5

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Epidemic Situation
In recent weeks the third wave of the epidemic was gathering momentum, leading to an uptick in
the number of infections and hospitalization rate. The rate of people testing positive in June last
year was as high as 23 percent, but dropped to 1.7 percent by September. It began to increase
again, reaching 7.45 percent in January before dropping to 3 percent by mid-February and then
climbing to 7.1 percent in March. The third wave of the coronavirus pandemic caused a spike in
cases and hospital admissions across the country. Hospitals are fast running out of capacity due to
a sharp increase in infections and admissions. The provincial capital of Punjab, Lahore is rain out
of beds. The situation has already turned alarming in some of the health care facilities in Lahore,
particularly the Mayo Hospital, where according to doctors, all the beds, including those reserved
for Covid patients in the intensive care and high dependency units have been occupied.

Covid-19 Cases in Pakistan

Confirmed Cases Active Cases Total Total Deaths Fatality Ratio
Recoveries

615,810 24,592 577,501 13,717 2.2%

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Covid-19 situation in the country

The third spike of the coronavirus is putting a tremendous load of Covid-19 patients on the state-
run hospitals in the major cities of Punjab, including Lahore, where bed capacity of some main
facilities has already reached the maximum. The situation has already turned alarming in some of
the health care facilities in Lahore, particularly the Mayo Hospital, where according to doctors, all
the beds, including those reserved for Covid patients in the intensive care and high dependency
units have been occupied.

Health authorities last week confirmed the UK variant existence in three districts of Punjab.
According to the health department UK variant of the Coronavirus is more easily transmissible
and more deadly then the Chinese variant.

In the backdrop of the surge in cases, authorities in Peshawar and Lahore have decided to re-
impose smart lockdown in various areas. In Lahore, the Local administration has selected 16 more
localities for this purpose after a surge in coronavirus cases there. A notification issued by the

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Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department says there has been a constant increase in
positivity percentage in COVID-19 cases in the city which poses a serious threat to public health.

The national command and control center meeting was told that there is a sharp rising trend in
the disease has been recorded in the recent week and national positivity ratio has crossed 7.5% in
the country. The health authorities have re-imposed COVID-19 restrictions in the country that
were lifted last month due to a surge in cases while educational institutes have been closed in
several cities of the Punjab and KP from March 16.

In the federal capital Islamabad number of infection is on the rise, the district administration had
imposed certain restrictions which were lifted in the month of February in which use of masks is
mandatory in public areas, schools has already been closed due to the spike in high ratio of
infection. The country is experiencing the third wave of coronavirus which is deemed more lethal
and hazardous by health experts. They have urged people to strictly practice standard operating
procedures (SOP) to curb the virus spread.

Vaccine Updates
Last week, Pakistan began the second phase of its coronavirus vaccination campaign, with senior
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citizens over the age of 60 eligible to register to receive their first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine.
The ratio of registration of the age group is less than 10 and most of the people are not willing to
get vaccinated. Pakistan is currently administering vaccines from a stock of 500,000 Sinopharm
vaccines donated by the Chinese government in January. The second package of the 500,000
Sinopharm vaccines also arrived to the country. The vaccine is donated by the Chinese
government to overcome the situation in the country, however people fear of side effects and
couldn’t opt for it, even doctors in the country are hesitates to get the vaccine, a lot of people
were concerned about reactions. The country is due to receive 14.6 million doses of the Oxford
AstraZeneca vaccine through the global COVAX initiative in two phases.

Smart Lockdowns
In the backdrop of the surge in cases, authorities in Peshawar and Lahore have decided to re-
impose smart lockdown in various areas. In Lahore, the Local administration has selected 16 more
localities for this purpose after a surge in coronavirus cases there. The notification issued by the
Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department says there has been a constant increase in
positivity percentage in COVID-19 cases in the city which poses a serious threat to public health.
According to notification, smart lockdown has been imposed in five areas in Cantonment, two
localities of Data Ganj Bakhsh Town, three areas of Nishtar Town, four neighborhoods of

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Samanabad Town and one locality each in Shalimar Town and Wagah Town. In Peshawar too,
micro smart lockdown is imposed in four neighborhoods of the provincial capital. According to
notification, smart lockdown has been imposed in Street 9 of Sector E-11 Phase I and Street 5 of
Sector F-V Phase VI, Hayatabad, Street 3 of Gulbahar 4 and Street 11 of Defense Colony.
According to the notification, no general entry or exit to these localities by any person, except
those supplying essential commodities, shall be allowed. Similarly the provincial government of KP
has issued a notification according to which education institutions in Peshawar, Mardan,
Charsadda, Swabi and Dir Lower has been closed for a period of fifteen days from March 15.
Similar move has been taken by the government of Punjab closing down all the educational
institution in Lahore, Gujrat, Faisalabad, Hafizabad and Multan.

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