Pak government has banned holding morning assemblies in schools (Representational)
More than 200 children have died due to pneumonia caused by extreme cold in Pakistan’s Punjab province over the past three weeks, the government said on Friday.
According to the caretaker government of Punjab, most of the children who died “were not vaccinated against pneumonia, were malnourished and had weak immunity due to lack of breastfeeding.” The government has already banned schools across the province from holding morning assemblies until January 31 due to inclement weather.
A total of 10,520 cases of pneumonia have been reported in the province since January 1. All 220 deaths were children under five years of age, with 47 of them in Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab.
Mukhtar Ahmed, director of the Expanded Program on Immunization in Punjab, said infants in Pakistan are usually given their first anti-pneumonia vaccine, known as PCV, about six weeks after birth.
“From birth to two years of age, EPI ensures that the child receives 12 vaccinations against various diseases,” he said. “Three of these are to protect children from pneumonia.
“Pneumonia can be caused by both bacteria and viruses. Vaccinated children are protected from bacterial infections but can still be affected by viral pneumonia.” The government has asked children to wear masks, wash hands and wear warm clothes to protect them from contracting pneumonia.
“Last year, 990 children died of pneumonia in Punjab,” it said and expressed grave concern over the increase in cases of pneumonia among children in the province.
The government has asked senior doctors to adopt preventive measures to protect children from pneumonia.
It said that due to increase in cold weather, the disease of viral pneumonia is increasing rapidly in children and this disease spreads like COVID-19.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
