As active cases of Coronavirus exceed 11,000 in the country, the second wave of the pandemic has started in the country. On Tuesday, in a press conference Special Assistant to the PM on health Dr. Faisal Sultan said
“Around 400 to 500 Covid-19 cases were being reported in the country every day a few weeks ago. This has gone up to 700 to 750 cases per day now. The SAPM said with the beginning of the second coronavirus wave, strict restrictions would need to be imposed again and a plan would for this purpose would be chalked out soon.
He added that the restrictions would be tightened in the cities where the positivity ratio of the virus was high.
“We cannot allow citizens to visit public places without wearing masks and neglect other guidelines. Several plans and recommendations are already being considered to stem the spread of the virus. “Business timings that were in place earlier [before the lifting of the restrictions] might be restored again.”
Furthermore, he added, fines would be imposed for violating coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs).
The government is also planning to set up a hotline so that the citizens could inform the authorities about the violation of coronavirus SOPs.
The PM’s aide said restrictions were tough for the people and no government wanted to impose them.
“Hopefully, we will be able to beat this wave if people follow the guidelines properly.”
A virtual meeting of the vice-chancellor’s committee has been convened on Wednesday (today) wherein closing the universities again and disinfecting their premises would be discussed.
The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19 has recently disclosed that the average positivity rate of the disease had risen by 40%.
The national body on the country’s coronavirus response was also expressed its concerns over the increasing number of hospital admissions and deaths from the virus.
It was also noted that Muzafarabad, Hyderabad, Karachi and Gilgit have a higher positivity ratio among other areas across the country.
The NCOC had warned against another lockdown if the SOPs continued to be violated.
The chief secretaries of all provinces were asked to ensure that SOPs were implemented strictly and special attention was paid to high risk sectors including transport, markets, wedding halls, restaurants and public gatherings.
According to the NCOC daily update issued on Tuesday, 825 more people tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. 14 people passed away.
Total Active covid cases in Pakistan are 11,627. 29,477 tests were conducted yesterday with
Sindh conducting 8,860. Punjab 11,056, KP 3,955, ICT 4,023, Balochistan 838, GB 181 and AJK 564
Currently, 98 vents are occupied across Pakistan out of 1884 vents allocated for COVID-19.
A total of 330,200 cases detected so far AJK 3889, Balochistan 15859, GB 4200, ICT 19300, KP 39189, Punjab 103314 and Sindh 144449. 6759 deaths have been reported in total.
