Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar Sunday expressed concerns over rising cases of Covid-19 saying that the government has started imposing smart lock down again to contain the spread of the pandemic.
In a tweet, Asad Umar who also chairs the meeting of National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) on coronavirus, said that during previous six weeks, the average positivity ratio of Covid-19 was under 2%, however in the outgoing week, the positivity rate went above 2%, which is a matter of concern. In order to avoid the increase in cases in the country, “We have already imposed mini smart lock down in Islamabad, Karachi, and Azad Kashmir”.
Besides, he informed that the administration had also been directed to ensure protective measures across the country. He, however, pointed out that as before, the success was not possible without cooperation of the public.
The total active Covid-19 cases in Pakistan on Sunday were recorded 8,904 as 666 more people tested positive for the deadly virus during the last 24 hours.
Twelve coronavirus patients, 11of whom were under treatment died in hospital and one died out of hospital, according to the latest update issued by the National command and Operation Centre (NCOC). No Covid-affected person was on ventilator in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Balochistan, while 77 ventilators elsewhere in Pakistan, out of 1,912 allocated for Covid-19 patients, were occupied.
Some 28,893 tests were conducted across the country on Saturday, including 7,515 in Sindh, 11,185 in Punjab, 3,720 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 4,541 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 948 in Balochistan, 450 in Gilgit Baltistan (GB), and 534 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
Around 303,458 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan making it a significant count with over 90 percent recovery ratio of the affected patients. Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 318,932 cases were detected so far, including AJK 3,045, Balochistan 15,520, GB 3,924, ICT 17,296, KP 38,329, Punjab 100,687 and Sindh 140,131.
About 6,570 deaths were recorded in country since the eruption of the contagion, including 2,549 Sindh among six of them died in hospital on Saturday, 2,257 in Punjab four of them died in hospital and one out of hospital on Saturday, 1,263 in KP, 188 in ICT, 146 in Balochistan, 89 in GB and 78 in AJK one of them in hospital on Saturday. A total of 3,857,845 corona tests have been conducted so far, while 735 hospitals are equipped with COVID facilities. Some 779 corona patients were admitted in hospitals across the country.
The NCOC said that 86 new Covid-19 cases were reported from the federal capital during last 24 hours. According to an official of NCOC, as many as 88 cases were reported last day while so far total 17,296 cases were reported from the federal capital. He said that 188 deaths were reported from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) while 16,319 patients had been recovered completely.
Meanwhile, sources from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) confirmed reporting of coronavirus cases in doctors and other supporting medical staff of the hospital. They added the hospital administration had directed its staff to strictly follow SOPs.
Keeping in view the increasing number of cases and on the direction of Ministry of National Health Services, the district administration of Islamabad had started smart lockdown in different streets of the city to reduce transmission of the infection in selected streets and other sectors. They also started taking actions on violation of SOPs related with the Coronavirus while visiting marriage halls, markets and petrol pumps by its inspection teams. The administration also sealed two schools, four shops, one workshop and 32 restaurants on violation of SOPs. The inspection teams also issued notices to 17 marriage halls besides imposing fines on owners of different shops.
Commenting on the situation, an official of Ministry of National Health Services said that several local level administrative decisions were made to control the disease. He advised the citizens to continue following the social distancing, use of mask and other precautionary measures to stop increasing local transmission of Covid-19. He said that the government had adopted effective strategy to combat Covod-19 that resulted reduction in corona cases in the country. He said that the main focus of the strategy was to control the disease on one hand and maintaining business activities of small and poor traders on the other hand.
Punjab reported 203 cases of the novel coronavirus, which is the highest tally of the infection’s cases reported in almost two months, data from the NCOC showed on Sunday. A look at the data shows cases are steadily rising in October. Out of the first 10 days of the month, in seven days more than 100 cases of the virus were reported in the province. On October 9, Punjab reported 154 cases of the infection in a single day, the second-highest tally of the month so far. On Saturday, October 10, 203 people tested positive for the virus – the highest number of persons contracting the virus since the last two months – and the highest tally of the month so far as well.
