Citizens urged to follow WHO's COVID-19 guidelines on Eid ul Fitr

The Sindh government has alerted citizens about the emergence of new COVID-19 variants and urged them to follow the World Health Organisation's (WHO) COVID-19 guidelines and receive booster vaccination ahead of Eid ul Fitr festivities.

Taking to Twitter, Sindh's Health and Population Welfare Department wrote: "Keeping in view the emergence of new Covid variants, asymptomatic transmission of the contagion and increased human interaction related to upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr festivities it is pertinent to follow WHO placed pandemic SOPs with complete adherence on the part of every citizen."

The provincial authority has also issued a notification listing all government-run hospitals administering booster doses of Pfizer at Adults Vaccination Centres across the province's 24 districts which include Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allah Yar, Matiari, Thatta, Sujawal, Badin, Dadu, Jamshoro, Mirpurkhas, Sukkar and others.

In its tweet, the department stated: "It is pertinent to follow WHO placed pandemic SOPs with complete adherence on the part of every citizen."

In its statement on Twitter, the department has shared the following guidelines:

• Please maintain social distance and remember to wear a mask in all public and crowded areas (including shopping areas*).
• Larger Eid gatherings should ideally be avoided and hands should be regularly washed with soap.
• If you feel the onset of any symptoms related to flu’, cough or experience difficulty in breathing you are advised to visit the nearest government hospital for due management and free of cost COVID-19 testing.
• People who received their last COVID-19 vaccination dose 6 to 12 months ago are eligible and advised to get their follow up COVID-19 vaccination dose at any of DoH's established vaccination centres. This will enhance the immunity against the deadly disease.
• The elderly and individuals with co-morbidities are especially advised to get inoculated at home by calling immunisation teams.

Meanwhile, the National Institute of Health in Islamabad has released the National Command and Operation Centre's COVID-19 statistics for April 21 (today) reporting 20 positive cases in the last 24 hours.

A total of 3,377 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, while the positivity percentage remains 0.59%.

At least 14 patients have been reported to be in critical care with no deaths recorded in the last 24 hours.