ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported another 118 deaths and 5,611 cases from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours on Sunday as the government mulls on enforcing a lockdown in large cities.
This comes a day after the country reported the highest number of COVID-related deaths. Pakistan reported 157 deaths on Saturday, making it the country’s highest death toll since the pandemic began last year.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, 118 people died of COVID-19 in a single day, pushing the national tally to 17,117. As many as 5,611 new infections surfaced bringing total number of case to 795,627.
There were 55,611 samples were tested in the past day, bringing the total number to 11.5 million. The country’s overall positivity ratio of new cases has increased to 10.17%.
Punjab has surpassed Sindh with the highest number of coronavirus cases. There have been 288,598 cases and 7,964 deaths, while the number of active cases in the province has surged to 46,979. Islamabad has recorded 72,918 cases and 660 deaths while there are 14,501 active cases in the federal capital.
The number of coronavirus cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have reached 113,121 and 3,103 deaths while there are 14,503 active cases in the province. Sindh has recorded 277,593 cases and 4,593 deaths while Balochistan has recorded 21,618 cases and 232 deaths.
Amid the surging cases, the is considering the enforcement of a lockdown in cities reporting high positivity ratios while the army has been mobilized to help the civil administration in enforcing SOPs.
The NCOC released a statement on Saturday stating the forum “deliberated upon proposed lock downs in high disease prevalence cities” in light of increasing coronavirus cases,
The NCOC clarified that talks would be held with stakeholders before a lockdown is imposed. The restrictions, if enforced, would include the closure of markets, malls, less essential services, a ban on intercity public transport, and a complete closure of educational institutions.
To ensure that the lockdown achieves its target of curbing the virus’ spread, the assistance of the army, Frontier Corps, and Rangers, would be provided to provincial governments, the statement said.
The forum also decided to extend the two-day inter-provincial transport ban — on Saturday and Sunday — till May 17, 2021, which was earlier imposed till April 25.
