Teams to go from door to door for corona vaccination: minister

LAHORE: Provincial Minister for Local Government and Community Development Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed has said that success in drive against corona can only be possible if maximum number of people are vaccinated. Keeping this in view the Punjab government is going to launch a special corona vaccination campaign from October 25 to November 12.

The minister said that12,000 teams would go door to door for administering vaccine to the people. The drive is being started in all districts of the province and 14,000 new vaccination centres are being established throughout the province. Moreover, social workers will also provide assistance to the vaccination teams, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed said and appealed to the public to get benefit from this initiative and complete corona vaccination and protect themselves and their families from the pandemic.

He said that corona virus had so far taken more than 12,000 lives in Punjab. “By vaccinating maximum number of people, we can not only move faster towards normal life but also avoid other social restrictions and lockdowns,” he added.

8 die from corona: During the last 24 hours, 171 new Coronavirus cases were reported from across the province. So far, the total number of cases has reached 439,003. Besides, 418,237 patients have fully recovered in the whole province, bringing the total number of active cases to 7,874 till date.

In recent 24 hours, no death was reported from Lahore whereas 8 deaths have been reported in Punjab due to Coronavirus taking the total tally to 12,892. During the last 24 hours, 16,845 tests are conducted making a total of 7,815,491 tests.

346 dengue cases: Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) Secretary Imran Sikandar reviewed current situation of dengue in the province.

He directed the department to intensify dengue prevention activities across Punjab. During the last 24 hours, 459 confirmed cases of dengue are reported across the province out of which 346 confirmed cases are reported from Lahore.

Workshops: Punjab is introducing a number of new technology-based interventions in measles rubella campaign in November. Punjab completed trainings of District Data Management Focal Persons for Measles Rubella Catch Up campaign 2021 in the province. Islamabad hosted the second and last training workshops at a local hotel.

The Expanded Programme on Immunization, Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Punjab organised these trainings with support of the World Health Organization.

In his message Director General Health Services Punjab Dr Haroon Jehangir said, "Data management team has very important role in the campaign. A total of 50 focal persons have been trained in two batches. The first batch was imparted trainings at Lahore and second batch was trained at Islamabad. Punjab's all 36 district shall be sharing data of 34,428 teams through mobile app. Data accuracy and its timely submission shall define the quality of the campaign. I am grateful to the WHO for their support."

Additional Director EPI Dr Mohabbat Ali said that Measles Rubella Catch Up Campaign will be held from November 15 to 27 and more than 46.6 million children of 9 months to 15 years shall be vaccinated.

WHO Head of Office, Dr Jamshed Ahmed joined trainings in Islamabad and highlighted the importance of quality data that will ensure evidence based decision making and public health action.