GB govt to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions

GILGIT BALTISTAN: Gilgit Baltistan (GB) administration has begun to plot the gradual unwinding of their lockdowns across the region after more people recovered from the novel COVID-19.

Adviser to GB chief minister on Information Shams Mir said Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman has put forward the recommendations for easing the lockdown during National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) meeting.

He said currently there are 75 active COVID-19 patients in the region out of total reported cases of 233. Mir added overall 155 people have recovered after contracting the COVID-19 and three died from the disease.

He said the rate of new cases reported from GB and recoveries made by the old patients is satisfactory.” He, however, said that there were still chances of COVID-19 spreading thus and the provincial and centre were on the same page to fight against the epidemic.

The Adviser further said authorities are formulating standard operating procedures (SOPs) for easing lockdown in the GB.

Earlier, in view of increasing cases of novel COVID-19 in the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced to extend the ongoing country-wide lockdown for another two weeks.

Addressing the nation after a meeting of National Coordination Committee (NCC), the prime minister said the government had made the tough decision of imposing lockdown in the country which was very well implemented due to the cooperation of the people. 

PM Imran Khan said the government took a number of steps to stop the spread coronavirus in the country which has lead to encouraging results as the spread of coronavirus slowed down to 30 percent of the projected target.

The number of COVID-19 cases has jumped to 5,716 in Pakistan, which has claimed three deaths during the last 24 hours in the country.

According to the latest statistics released by the national dashboard, out of 5,716 infected persons, 1,378 have recovered their health and were discharged from the hospitals across the country, while 46 are still in critical condition.