Pak administers over 500,000 jabs in a day amid virus surge

Minister hopes vaccination drive will gather pace in future; PM calls on countries producing vaccines to ramp up production; international flight operations to be increased to 50% from tomorrow

- Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD

Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Tuesday said that more than 500,000 people got vaccinated against COVID-19 in a single day, which was the highest number since the vaccination started in the country.

“For the first time, we crossed half a million doses of vaccinations yesterday. 525,000 doses were administered,” he said.

In a tweet, the minister said out of the total, 390,000 people were administered first doses.

He hoped that this pace would further increase in future.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan urged the countries that are producing the coronavirus vaccines to ramp up production and work to ensure that these are rapidly distributed throughout the world, including developing countries.

“While the support offered by some major countries is commendable, more needs to be done,” Imran said during his address to the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development 2021.

The National Command and Operations Centres (NCOC) said that international flight operations will be increased to 50% from July 15.