ISLAMABAD: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Monday conducted a review of the existing coronavirus with specific emphasis on “evolving Covid variants” and ordered the National Institute of Health (NIH) to review vaccine stocks and arrangements in hospitals to deal with the virus. Cases.
NDMA Chairman Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik chaired a special consultation of the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) that focused on “the evolution of Covid variants and expressed confidence in Pakistan’s existing methods and national preparedness. “
The NDMA said the scenario will be monitored frequently through the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) and that “preparedness, preventive protocols and vaccination management formula will be strengthened to address spikes of concern. “
An official NDMA document said an NIH team briefed assembly participants on the “updated monitoring of regional trends of the novel coronavirus variant and progression of trajectories for Pakistan creating undue alarm. “
The NDMA leader directed NCOC and NIH to “issue a cautionary notice on the dangers of covid variants to the public and appropriate stakeholders in clinical data research globally and regionally and to conduct simulations of selective training for the covid emergency. “
The press noted that the “NCOC showed detailed statistics on Covid management, knowledge of vaccination management and the low threat of a new variant in Pakistan. “
NIH also informed assembly participants that the existing Covid positivity rate is 0. 53% and that 95% of the eligible population has been inoculated with the first dose of vaccine and 90% with the current one.
The press release added that Lieutenant General Malik “briefed participants on the prime minister’s vision for a national preparedness and reaction formula in the country. “
“He also explained NEOC’s expansion plan and its status quo of an interface with all departments to reshape the country’s emergency response from a reactive to a proactive mode for crisis management. “
Regarding the Covid scenario in the country, the media reported that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department recently asked public sector hospital workers to fully vaccinate against the infectious disease.
As new variants of the coronavirus at an immediate speed in parts of the world, adding India, China and the United States, Pakistan’s health government appears ill-prepared to prevent the virus from entering the country.
Although the NCOC claimed that the situation was being heavily monitored, there have been no measures at airports, such as immediate testing and detection of incoming travelers, to find positive Covid cases.
NCOC member Dr. Shahzad Ali Khan said the Center holds its meetings regularly. He added that it remained to be seen how the new variants would fare in Pakistan, as “viruses behave in other settings. “
Towards the end of the NDMA meeting, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) also briefed the forum on the weather outlook for this winter season.
“Representatives of the National Information Technology Council (NITB) briefed the NEOC on the existing prestige of the flood-affected farmer registry in the virtual application and its ongoing verification procedure to provide emergency assistance,” NDMA press said.
Representatives from the Ministries of Food Security, Railways and Information, PMD, Federal Flood Commission, National Highway Authority, Provincial Health Departments and NITB attended the session.