Pakistan allows cricket board to hold PSL matches with 100% capacity from Feb.16

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

The Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Centre’s (NCOC) on Monday decided to abolish Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) for inbound passengers from Feb.8.

During a session of the country's nerve centre of COVID-19 response, it was decided to abolish the tests except for deportees from foreign countries and for non-vaccinated individuals arriving from land border terminals.

The forum, chaired by Planning Minister Asad Umar, discussed epidemic data, national vaccination progress, inbound health protocols and the second phase of the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) tournament.

For PSL, the NCOC allowed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to conduct the matches in Lahore with 50 per cent stadium capacity for fully vaccinated spectators till Feb.15.

However, from Feb.16 onwards, the PCB has been allowed to conduct matches with 100 per cent capacity, provided all spectators are vaccinated.

Pakistan reported 38 COVID-19 related deaths and 3,338 positive cases during the last 24 hour period.

According to statistics issued by the NCOC, 44,779 tests were conducted while the positivity ratio was at 7.45 per cent. It added that about 1,684 Covid-19 patients are still in critical condition.

Umar also hailed the door-to-door COVID-19 immunisation drive saying that the country had registered the highest daily vaccination records during the past three days in a row.

Earlier this month, the government had stepped up the ongoing anti-coronavirus vaccine campaign by taking it door-to-door amid a surge in coronavirus cases fuelled by the highly contagious Omicron variant.

The NCOC had announced a two-week door-to-door vaccination campaign titled ‘Every Pakistani Safe from Coronavirus’ to rid the nation of Covid-19.

The Feb.1-14 vaccine campaign would cover all people above the age of 12 years.