Health experts mulling over new lockdown after surge in COVID-19 cases

LAHORE: In wake of the increasing number of cases of COVID-19 across the country, the Corona Expert Advisory Group (CEAG) has begun considering suggesting a lockdown to the government.

In a statement issued on behalf of CEAG, Prof Dr Asad Aslam today said that COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) are not being implemented by the people across the country.

“In this regard, not only in the markets but also in any other sectors, coronavirus SOPs are not being implemented. This is the main reason why the chances of the coronavirus spreading again in Pakistan have increased. If the same situation persists, we will once again propose to the federal government to impose smart lockdown,” he said.

Meanwhile, in view of the growing threat of COVID-19, a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Anti-Corona on Friday in the Chief Minister House Punjab considered allowing government employees over the age of 55 and female government employees with children to work from home.

The meeting was presided over by Law Minister Raja Basharat and during the meeting, he said, “Government departments have repeatedly asked the public to follow the Covid-19 SOPs, but most of the people have ignored the SOPs.”

The law minister warned that if the attitude of the people remained the same, the government would be forced to take drastic measures. The law minister was also briefed on the steps being taken by the concerned departments to control the Covid-19.

The number of active cases of coronavirus has risen to 9,855 across the country. Moreover, 13 more people have lost their lives due to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours across the country; and the total number of deaths due to the global pandemic has risen to 6,715.

According to the latest data released by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), 736 new cases of covid-19 were reported in Pakistan in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases across the country to 326,216 and 309,646 patients have recovered so far.

The total number of patients in Sindh province is 142,917 while in Punjab province it is 122,253, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa it is 38,886, in Balochistan it is 15,767, in Islamabad, it is 18,578 and in Azad Kashmir 3,688 Covid-19 patients were reported whereas in Gilgit Baltistan, the number was 4,127.