By BR Web Desk

Pakistan has vaccinated 50% of the country's eligible population against the novel coronavirus with at least one dose as it paces up its inoculation drive amid the decline in positive cases.

This was announced by Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar in a tweet on Wednesday. The head of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has become the second province to vaccinate half of its eligible population with at least one dose.

Earlier, Punjab achieved the feat to vaccinate half of its eligible population against Covid-19.

He also said that the country achieved another record of administering 1.7 million doses in a day on November 9. So far, Pakistan has administered 114,891,170 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to its citizens.

Earlier, while chairing the meeting on coronavirus, NCOC head had emphasised on stepping up the administration of second dose to eligible individuals. Umar also appreciated the efforts of all stakeholders in bringing down the positivity ratio of the virus.

Meanwhile, 46,128 tests were conducted across the country during the last 24 hours, out of which 554 came out positive. Since the pandemic last year, Pakistan has confirmed 1,278,114 Covid-19 cases.

Since October 31, the country has been reporting less than 700 positive cases, while the active number of infections has also decreased to 22,958. Currently, there are 1,167 critical cases in the country.

Meanwhile, during the last 24 hours, the novel virus claimed eight more lives, taking the death toll to 28,566. Whereas, 443 recovered from the virus, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,226,590.

This article first appeared in Business Recorder on Nov 10, 2021.