The first batch of a Chinese made Covid 19 vaccine being processed in Pakistan would be available for use by May end, a senior Minister said.

In a tweet, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said the Cansino vaccine was being processed at the National Institute of Health plant set up last month.

“The first batch of bulk Cansino vaccine (is) being processed at the National Institute of Health plant set up for this purpose last month. Specially trained team (is) working on it. Will inshallah be available for use by end of May after going thru rigorous quality control checks” said the tweet.

The vaccine has been developed by China’s CanSino Biologics.

Umar, who also heads the country’s National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said in another tweet that due to timely decisions, Pakistan was spared the kind of situation being witnessed in India.

According to the NCOC data, Pakistan saw another 140 patients losing their battle against Coronavirus and 4,298 getting infected in a single day on Friday as the national positivity ratio was recorded at 9.58 per cent.

With the emergence of the new cases, the tally of infections since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country have crossed 850,000. The death toll stands at 18,677 while the number of recoveries reported across the country is 747,755. Active cases remained at 83,699 as of May 7, Dawn reported.

(SAM)