For First Time in 2 Years, Pakistan Counts No COVID Deaths in 2 Days

(ISLAMABAD, Pakistan) —For the first time in two years, there have been zero reported deaths from the coronavirus in Pakistan for two consecutive days on March 22 and 23.

The population of 220 million is witnessing a continuing downtrend as COVID-19 infections have significantly dropped in Pakistan. 

“The center provides all vaccines currently available in Pakistan. These include Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sino pharm, Sinovac and Can Sino. The vaccines available at the facility meet the required international standards.” said Dr. Mir Mohammed Hassan, a Medical doctor at a vaccination center in Federal General Hospital, Islamabad which has Female and male separate counters and is designed to administer 2,000 shots a day.

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates had praised Pakistan’s  National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), in fighting COVID in his blog after his first ever visit to Pakistan on Feb 17, 2022. Gates wrote, “Last week I went to Pakistan, where I visited the country’s innovative command center the NCOC for COVID. The center had applied resources including data analysis, vaccine campaign planning, and community engagement to coordinate Pakistan’s response to COVID. This center blew me away,” the philanthropist said.

According to the official data of National Institute of Health a total of 30,333 people died of the pandemic so far in the country in the last two years. Mohammad Hassan Shah, at vaccination center said “ My mother, brother all are vaccinated, only my wife’s booster dose is left. We have faced four of our close family members’ deaths due to COVID.”

A COVID-19 isolation ward in Pakistan. [Credit: Neelum Nawab]

Pakistan initially had to deal with vaccination hesitancy and a shortage of vaccine supplies and had limited shots to people aged 30 or over.

But with purchases and donations from the US, China and allocations from the World Health Organization and the GAVI Vaccine Alliance on March 6, Pakistan reached the milestone of fully vaccinating 100 million of its citizens against coronavirus. 

Around 46 per cent of Pakistan’s 220 million population is now fully vaccinated. Nearly 58 per cent (127 million) have received at least one dose.

South Asia Index data indicated that Pakistan has performed far better as compared to other South Asian countries during the pandemic, with the lowest unemployment rate in the region during 2020-22.

Two years after the pandemic, Pakistan announced removing all coronavirus-related restrictions in mid-March 2022 following a continual decline in infections across the country and to “return towards a normal, ordinary life.”