Pakistan reported 113 new deaths, taking the total tally to 19,106, while 3,084 new infections also surfaced across the country, according to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).
At least 38,883 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours, it added.
The national positivity rate has also seen gradual decline as it is now being reported at 7.93 per cent.
Out of over 19,000 deaths, the highest number of deaths have been reported in Punjab — 9,125. Estimated 4,750 deaths have been reported in Sindh, over 3,600 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 716 in Islamabad, 253 in Balochistan, 508 in Azad Kashmir, and 107 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
LOCKDOWN:
On Saturday, a nine-day shutdown affecting travel and tourist hotspots in a bid to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr came into effect.
Businesses, hotels and restaurants, as well as markets and parks, will be closed, while public transport between provinces and within cities has been halted. The military has been mobilised to monitor the restrictions.
Mosques, however, will remain open. The government fears that curbs on places of worship could ignite confrontation in the deeply conservative republic. Last week, the country slashed international flights and sealed border crossings with Iran and Afghanistan in the wake of the soaring infections.
It may be noted that the government has warned the public of risks in the coming days. Planning Minister Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, had said that the need for caution was clear. “Need the country to unite in response and achieve once again what we achieved in the first wave, for which we received global praise. Inshallah, we will do it again, together,” he said in a message on Twitter.
