ISLAMABAD
The NCOC has announced launching a special nationwide vaccination campaign for the transportation sector.
The NCOC said on Friday that the vaccine is being administered by all federating units under a joint campaign from December 8 to 18. Under the campaign, inspections will be conducted at entrances and exits of bus stops, toll plazas and interchanges, and all types of public and private intercity and intra-city transport will be checked.
Additionally, inspection teams will also be deployed on motorways, national highways and inter-provincial boundaries.
The NCOC emphasised that only vaccinated individuals, or those with medical exceptions, will be permitted to travel. Non-vaccinated transport staff and passengers will be inoculated on the spot via mobile vaccination teams.
The centre stated that a total of 3,793 inspections were completed on December 8 alone and 46 vehicles impounded and eight people arrested.
The country has ramped up its vaccination campaign and coronavirus monitoring over the emergence of the omicron Covid-19 variant, a top health official said on Friday, denying reports the new strain has been detected in the country.
“No confirmed cases [of omicron strain] as yet, but few suspected cases are under investigation from Karachi and Islamabad,” Pakistan’s Health Director General Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar told a foreign news agency.
“While genome sequencing results will be available early next week. We are ramping up outreach vaccination and vigilantly monitoring clustering or atypical cases for earliest detection and requisite NPI (Non-pharmaceutical Interventions) implementation.”
For travellers from countries with confirmed omicron cases, Pakistan has put special screening and quarantine measures in place, according to the official.
