- Karachi’s positivity rate surges to all-time high
While the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data showed over 3,000 Covid-19 cases for a second consecutive day with 39 deaths and 3,262 new cases in the past 24 hours, the number of active cases in the country swelled to 59,899 on July 27.
Terming Karachi’s situation where the positivity rate of coronavirus has surged to 26.32 percent ‘the worst till date’, the NCOC in a meeting noted that the number of Covid patients in intensive care units in the metropolis had already increased to 980. The federal government vowed to cooperate with the Sindh government and provide personal protective equipment and oxygen to deal with the situation.
- Cabinet gives the green light to cyber security policy
As per the policy, a cyber-attack on any institution of Pakistan will be considered an act of aggression against national sovereignty and all necessary and retaliatory steps would be taken. The committee will implement the policy at the national level, determine a strategy in a timely manner and take timely action. The committee comprises the secretaries and senior officers of 13 different departments/organizations.
Earlier, various organizations were addressing cybersecurity-related issues in silos.
Currently, Pakistan has been ranked seventh-worst cyber-secure state in the world by the Global Strategies Index and the Global Security Index 2018 report.
- PM appoints Jawad Paul as SC registrar
Prime Minister Imran Khan has appointed Jawad Paul as the registrar of the Supreme Court.
Mr. Paul is currently posted as an additional secretary at the Prime Minister Office and takes care of matters involving civil bureaucracy, etc.
He is a BS-21 officer but has been appointed to the BS-22 post of SC registrar under Section 10 of the Civil Servants Act, 1973.
Under the law, the competent authority can appoint an officer to a post that’s in the next grade.
- SHC rejects Khursheed Shah’s bail in accumulation of assets case
A two-member bench, comprising justices Shamsuddin Abbasi and Amjad Ali Sahito, passed this order on a second constitutional petition filed by Mr. Shah seeking grant of bail after arrest after the SHC’s Sukkur bench had dismissed a similar plea.
At the outset, the bench said that without prejudice to its earlier order of bail plea dismissal, they were taking into account the fresh grounds of hardship and delay in the trial mainly pressed and agitated before it by the petitioner.
- ‘US really messed it up’: PM Imran on Afghanistan situation
Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the United States “really messed it up in Afghanistan” as he questioned the American motive of Afghan invasion in the first place and then their subsequent attempts of seeking a political solution with the Taliban from a position of weakness.
- Bhutan fully vaccinates 90pc of eligible adults within a week
The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has fully vaccinated 90pc of its eligible adult population within just seven days. The tiny country, wedged between India and China and home to nearly 800,000 people, began giving out second doses on July 20 in a mass drive that has been hailed by Unicef as arguably the fastest vaccination campaign to be executed during a pandemic.
In April, Bhutan grabbed headlines when its government said it had inoculated around the same percentage of eligible adults with the first dose in under two weeks after India donated 550,000 shots of the AstraZeneca vaccine. But the country faced a shortage for months after India, a major supplier of the AstraZeneca shot, halted exports as it scrambled to meet rising demand at home as infections surged.
- Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to work on easing travel restrictions
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi took up the issue with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, who is on a day-long visit to Pakistan.
Qureshi told a joint news conference in Islamabad that around 400,000 of over two million Pakistani workers in Saudi Arabia had been stranded at home due to travel restrictions. Saudi Arabia, which bars direct travel from Pakistan, has only approved the AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson and Johnson vaccines, so anyone arriving without one of those shots is required to quarantine at a cost many Pakistani workers say they cannot afford.
- West Indies ready for Pakistan T20 test in Barbados
West Indies and Pakistan, the two supremely talented Twenty20 teams, collide in a four-match series starting on Wednesday at Kensington Oval in Barbados before the contest shifts to Providence Stadium in Guyana for the remaining three matches.
- Simone Biles fails in gold bid as Naomi Osaka crashes out
Simone Biles’ bid to launch a history-making gold rush at the Tokyo Olympics fell apart after a single vault on Tuesday when the gymnast superstar pulled out of the team event, and her American teammates were beaten to the title by the Russians.
- Mahoor exits after second defeat, Haseeb finishes 62nd out of 70
Pakistan’s Mahoor Shahzad exited the women’s singles badminton tournament at the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday while her countryman Haseeb Tariq finished 62nd out of 70 competitors in the heats for the men’s 100m freestyle swimming competition.
Having lost her Group ‘L’ opener to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi on Saturday, Mahoor needed a win to stay in contention but came up short 14-21, 14-21 to Britain’s Kirsty Gilmour at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza.
COVID-19 Updates
- With 4,119 new COVID-19 cases, 46 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours
- 56,952 COVID-19 cases are active in the country
- The total death tally of Covid-19 stands at 23,133
- 7,020 people recovered from Coronavirus in the last 24 hours
- The positivity rate of Covid-19 is recorded at 7.8%
- Over 195.2 million are infected globally
- More than 4.1 million have died due to the virus
- Over 170 million recovered from COVID-19
- Another record set on July 27 with 0.7m vaccinations: Asad Umar
- More than 4,000 Covid-19 cases reported for first time since May 21
- Islamabad, AJK and GB collectively report 544 Covid-19 cases, 7 deaths
- KP records 261 virus cases, 5 deaths
- Punjab reports more than 600 cases for first time since May 30
- Pakistan reports 7,020 Covid-19 recoveries
- Regions near Olympic host Tokyo to seek Covid-19 emergency steps
- Sydney lockdown extended by four weeks as virus outbreak grows
- US tells vaccinated people in high Covid risk areas to mask again
