ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Friday said that 21 percent of Islamabad’s target population has been vaccinated against Covid-19.
Addressing the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce here, Umar said the city has reached a point in terms of vaccinations where the “first rays of sunlight have started to appear.” 
He said the inoculation campaign was progressing comparatively better in Islamabad than in other parts of the country. “The faster we do this work, the faster we will permanently escape this situation,” he added. He said the current vaccination capacity in Islamabad was 20,000 shots daily while the average number of first dose administrations was 7,000 shots.  He said there was a need to run a vaccination campaign with help of the businessmen and traders because they stood to benefit the most from it. 
He hoped that the faster the vaccination is completed; the sooner the nation will get the opportunity to remove all restrictions. He said he wanted to see no restrictions in place on Eid ul Azha so businesses and traders could be free to work. He assured the business community that the NCOC will provide them full help in vaccinating their employees.
He told the gathering that coordination with the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce was needed due to many people commuting from the city to Islamabad for work. He said a meeting of the NCOC would be called next week to launch a national campaign where the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, trade associations and other stakeholders would be invited to work together on vaccinations. 
He also said that the NCOC discussed the opening up of amusement parks during Friday morning’s session and it was decided to give permission to open them with limited numbers and compliance of Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures. Islamabad on Friday morning reported 148 more Covid-19 cases and two deaths. So far 90,927 people have been found affected by Coronavirus in capital.