COVID-19: Pakistan to vaccinate 80-yr-olds and above at their homes

Pakistan will administer COVID-19 vaccines to citizens 80 years of age and above at their homes, as the country battles a fresh wave of the coronavirus.In a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry of National Health Services said Pakistan reported 103 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, while the number of new cases was 3,953 in the same period.

Pakistan will administer COVID-19 vaccines to citizens 80 years of age and above at their homes, as the country battles a fresh wave of the coronavirus.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry of National Health Services said Pakistan reported 103 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, while the number of new cases was 3,953 in the same period. This was the smallest rise in daily new infections since March 25, when 4,368 cases were reported. On April 1, 5,234 new cases were reported.

The country's total number of cases presently stands at 696,184, with 14,924 related deaths. Over 3,500 patients are in a critical condition.

On Monday, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said citizens aged 80 years and above would be vaccinated at their homes.

He said the decision was taken keeping in mind the onset of summer and the difficulty senior citizens would face in reaching vaccination centres and waiting in queues.

According to official data, 936,383 people have been vaccinated in Pakistan till April 3.

In related development, the government has decided to extend the closure of schools in the coronavirus-hit areas.

Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood announced the decision after a meeting of the National Command and Control Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday.

''During today's meeting it was decided that classes for grade 1 to 8 will not be held in districts that are affected (by coronavirus) and this will go on till April 28,” he said.

However, classes for grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 will resume from April 19 to facilitate the students to prepare for board examinations.

The provincial governments will decide which areas are the most affected.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)