Pakistan and Italy have dismantled their official anti-coronavirus campaigns as the authorities in the United Kingdom turn off the supply of free rapid coronavirus tests to most people.
Pakistan disbanded the National Command and Operations Centre, which was overseeing the COVID-19 response in the country, as the infection numbers were at the lowest since the start of the outbreak early in 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Thursday.
The South Asian country reported 244 positive COVID-19 cases on Thursday, with a 0.82 per cent positivity rate.
“Today, as NCOC closes down, I want to congratulate the NCOC team and its leadership for a professional, nationally co-ordinated response to the pandemic,” Khan said in a post on Twitter.
“Our COVID response was recognised by international agencies and people in the field as one of the most successful globally,” he added.
The country had on March 16 lifted most restrictions aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19.
Pakistan has faced four waves of the virus in the last two years, which were effectively managed by the NCOC.
“With COVID indicators at all-time lows and high levels of vaccination, (the) baton (is) now being passed on to the health ministry,” Asad Umar Pakistan Planning Minister said in a tweet on Thursday.
Pakistan has administered COVID-19 vaccines to 75 per cent of the eligible population aged 12 and above, Dr Faisal Sultan, advisor to the prime minister on health said.
Meanwhile, Italy’s unprecedented state of emergency to curb the spread of coronavirus officially ended on Thursday.
Italy was the first country in Europe to be hit by a major COVID-19 outbreak and also one of the first to impose a state of emergency.
The COVID-19 state of emergency, which allows authorities to bypass bureaucracy and impose rules via decrees such as limited mobility, was established on January 31, 2020 shortly after the detection of the first cases in the country.
The World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic only on March 11, 2020.
The end of the state of emergency has given Italians hopes of a return to normality this summer after more than two years of the health crisis.
Restrictions, such as the COVID-19 vaccination certificate, also known as the “green pass” in Italy, will be gradually eased.
From Friday, the contentious green pass will no longer be mandatory for outdoor seating but it will remain in force for indoor seating, cinemas and night venues.
The health pass will also no longer be compulsory in hotels or banks but will still be required to enter gyms and public swimming pools.
“We are relying on discipline to gradually end the green pass as of May 1,” Health Minister Roberto Speranza said.
A decision on ending face masks, which remain compulsory indoors, has not yet been reached.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, Italy has recorded 14.5 million infections and 159,224 deaths.
The UK government is ending the supply of free rapid antigen tests to most of the population even though COVID-19 infections remain at record levels.
More than 1.7 billion test kits have been handed out in workplaces, pharmacies and by mail over the past year, the government says, under a policy that encouraged people to test themselves regularly as a way to stamp out new outbreaks.
But starting on Friday, most people in England will have to buy lateral flow tests from pharmacies or online suppliers.
Lateral flow tests use throat or nose swabs and give results in minutes but are less accurate than the PCR swab tests used to officially confirm cases of COVID-19.
Tests will remain free for staff in high-risk settings such as hospitals, nursing homes, hospices and prisons but under the government’s “Living with COVID” plan most other people in England will now have to pay.
Some free testing will continue for several weeks in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
with reporting from EFE and AP
