Fresh batch of vaccine arrives, 3 PIA planes off to China to bring more

A special plane Saturday landed back at Noor Khan Airbase in Islamabad with a fresh batch of 500,000 doses of the Chinese-developed Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Pakistan bought the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinopharm. Pakistan has imported some eight batches of the vaccine comprising of three million and sixty thousand doses of the vaccine till now including 1.5 million doses as a gift from China.

On the other hand, the government has sped up efforts to curb the pandemic. The government sent three Boeing 777 planes of Pakistan International Airlines to China's Urumqi city for the import of vaccine.

The planes are being loaded with the vaccines according to the latest information and the flights will arrive back home on Sunday. The Boeing 777 planes were sent to China on orders of the National Coordination Committee (NCC).

PIA CEO Air Marshal Arshad Malik said that PIA was standing side by side of the government in this time of need. He said coronavirus was an international pandemic and could be curbed with unanimous efforts. He said PIA would play its role according to the need of the hour.

The average number of new infections reported in Pakistan has been consistently increasing for the last seven days. Pakistan seen 157 deaths in a single day wherein 5908 news confirmed cases were reported on Saturday.