The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Friday announced launching a special nationwide vaccination campaign for the transportation sector.

According to the NCOC, which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s anti-Covid strategy, 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.

On Thursday, Pakistan detected its first 'suspected' case of the Omicron variant in Karachi, according to the provincial health minister.

Sindh Health Minister Azra Fazal Pechuho said the authorities "suspect the case to be of the Omicron variant due to the virus' behaviour".

"The genome sequencing has not been done as of now, but we suspect it to be the Omicron variant due to the manner in which the virus is behaving".

She added that the suspected Omicron-affected patient is a 57-year old woman from the provincial capital.

According to the government's official Covid portal, Pakistan recorded a total of 313 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday, whereas 9 more fatalities were also recorded.