ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded more than five thousand while over a hundred people lost their lives from the novel coronavirus as the government extended restrictions amid the third wave of the pandemic.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), there were 5,050 new coronavirus cases and 114 deaths from the disease in the past day.
The total number of recorded cases has reached 721,018 cases while the death toll has reached 15,448. The total number of active cases has increased to73,078 while the positivity rate stood at 10.96 percent.
The number of critical patients who remain in in hospitals has also increased to 4,143 which could put a stain on healthcare services.
There were 46,066 coronavirus detection tests conducted in the past day, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 10.734 million since the first case was reported. Overall 631,700 people have recovered from the virus including 4,139 in past day.
Punjab continues to remains the worst affected area with 39,098 active cases. There have been 248,438 cases recorded so far and 6,972 deaths. Islamabad has recorded 67,700 cases and 607 deaths while there are 12.795 active cases in the region.
The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded 98,301 cases and 2,618 deaths while there are 12,458 active cases. Sindh has recorded 268,438 cases and 4,529 deaths.
Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) announced it was extending the coronavirus restrictions imposed earlier across the country till April 13.
The NCOC will hold a meeting on April 12 (tomorrow) chaired by Asad Umar to review how the coronavirus SOPs and restrictions imposed by the government will be implemented during the month of Ramazan.
The NCOC had announced various restrictions across the country a few days earlier, as the third wave of the coronavirus intensified across the country.
The NCOC had issued renewed standard operating procedures (SOPs) to contain the virus a few weeks ago. As per the new guidelines, all businesses are only be allowed to operate five days a week, while all commercial activities will be closed by 8:00pm in areas with a positivity ratio greater than 8%.
The forum had expressed grave concern over the current COVID-19 situation in the country and unanimously agreed to implement some high impact interventions in cities and districts with a high positivity ratio.
