Earlier this week, Prime Minister Imran Khan has extended the ongoing lockdown until the end of this month to fight the pandemic.
Policemen stand guard after cordoning an area during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus, in Karachi (Photo: AFP)
Pakistan has reported 514 new cases of the COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases in the country to 7,993 with 159 deaths, according to official data released on Sunday.
The Ministry of National Health Services said the new cases were reported mostly from Punjab and Sindh provinces and included 16 deaths in the last 24 hours.
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“Punjab reported 3,649 patients, Sindh 2,355, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 1,137, Balochistan 376, Gilgit-Baltistan 257, Islamabad 171 and Pakistan occupied Kashmir 48 patients,” the data, which is on the ministry’s website, said.
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As of now, Pakistan has conducted 98,522 tests, including 7,847 during the last 24 hours.
So far 1,868 patients have recovered, the ministry further added.
National Disaster Management Authority chief Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal said they would distribute 100,000 testing kits in all the provinces by Monday to further increase testing ratio.
Afzal said 50 laboratories were working across the country and conducing over 6,000 tests regularly.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Imran Khan has extended the ongoing lockdown until the end of this month to fight the pandemic.
PM Khan, while allowing relaxation in the lockdown to allow these industries to work, warned of action if set procedures were flouted.
Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad said that the railways would set up a special quarantine train comprising of 30 coaches in Balochistan.
According to authorities, Pakistan would also allow some foreign airlines to bring back about 40,000 Pakistani nationals stranded abroad.
Experts fear Covid-19 cases may rise further since the relaxations have been announced. They say these relaxations will bring hundreds of thousands of people to the streets, making them more vulnerable to local transmission of the deadly virus.
Meanwhile, though the Imran Khan government has announced relaxations during the lockdown, the Sindh provincial government has taken it upon itself to ensure that lockdown guidelines are observed by locals and those opening businesses are given strict SOPs to ensure social distancing.
Globally, 160,721 people have died and over 2.3 million people have been infected by the coronavirus, according to data maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
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