ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has scrapped all remaining Covid 19 restrictions on Wednesday.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar announced that the government is scrapping all the Covid-19 related restrictions across the country.

“We need a transition process towards an ordinary life because it seems at the moment that the pandemic will go on and become a part of our lives,” he said at a media briefing in Islamabad.

The minister revealed that all the limitations on wedding halls, outdoor gatherings, sports events, and religious processions have been removed.

The daily cases, Umar noted, have been the lowest since the beginning of the pandemic. The number of patients in critical care, too, has troughed.

“The only restriction that stays is vaccination,” he revealed. It is compulsory for every citizen, above the age of 12 years, to get immunised (both doses). It is mandatory to administer booster doses as well.

“This requirement will stay in place until the entire population is vaccinated,” Umar pointed out. Presently, 70% of the population has been completely immunised.

“But this doesn’t mean the pandemic has come to end,” he warned. “After this decision, we will closely monitor the impact of the virus in the country. We realise that this decision may lead to an increase in cases but we are on the stage to take a risk.”

The NCOC chief lauded and thanked the nation for cooperating with the government.

“We have seen people reacting adversely in western nations but our people knew that all the decisions were taken for the better good,” he said, adding that the entire world has appreciated Pakistan’s response to the pandemic.