Amid signs that the third wave has slightly relented, Pakistan reported 3,447 coronavirus cases on Monday, while the total number of death reported in past 24 hours stood at 78.
Out of these 78, only 10 were not in hospitals.
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), in its latest data, said that over 37,000 tests were conducted across Pakistan, out of which 3,447 came back positive. The national positivity ratio was reported at 9.12 per cent.
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.
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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.
