LAHORE: 135 deaths highest in over nine months occurred in the last 24 hours due to novel coronavirus amid the reports that total fatalities soared to 15754 on Wednesday.
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National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) latest statistics said 4,681 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours steering the total positive cases to 734423. .
Punjab remains the worst-hit province in terms of deaths followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Till now 7,141 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab 4,530 in Sindh, 2,732 in KP, 619 in Islamabad, 410 in Azad Kashmir, 219 in Balochistan, and 103 in GB.
Furthermore 269,840 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 255,571 in Punjab, 101,045 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 67,491 in Islamabad, 20,499 in Balochistan, 14,837 in Azad Kashmir and 5,140 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pakistan has so far conducted 10,878,086 coronavirus tests and 48,092 in the last 24 hours. 641,912 coronavirus patients have recovered in the country whereas 4,216 patients are in critical condition.
As per media reports the district administration of Islamabad has placed a smart lockdown in seven localities of the capital city due to a rampant rise in coronavirus cases.
A notification issued on Wednesday stated that entry and exit points of Sectors G7/1, G-6/2, G-7/2, G-8/1, G9/2, G-10/4, and G-11/3 will be sealed starting Wednesday, April 14.
Markets, shopping malls, restaurants, offices, and shops in these localities will be closed. People will not be allowed to leave their houses unless necessary and those without face masks will be fined.
People violating the SOPs will be fined and even sent behind bars. A restriction has been imposed on all kinds of gatherings and religious processions.
Shops of essential food items and pharmacies will be open from 9am to 7pm.
The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) issued on Wednesday a new set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) to mitigate the adverse effects of the third wave of coronavirus.
A special meeting of NCOC was chaired for this by Asad Umar on Tuesday.
Given the alarming surge in coronavirus cases, the forum decided to implement “broader lockdowns”, with stringent enforcement protocols where no mobility will be allowed except in emergency situations.
Saturdays and Sundays will be observed as closed days at the national level, read the notification issued by the coronavirus monitoring body.
All indoor and outdoor activities, including social, cultural, political, sports, and other miscellaneous events, will be banned.
“Outdoor dining will be allowed from iftar till midnight, example 11:59pm, with strict SOPs, while takeaways will be allowed,” the notification read.
NCOC decided to ban inter-provincial transport on two closed days (Saturdays and Sundays) which will continue to be in place till midnight April 25-26.
Market timings will be from sehri till 6pm.
For taraweeh prayers, NCOC said that it should be organised in open spaces as far as possible.
The forum called for civil administration at every tier to engage ulemas and community leaders for assistance in the enforcement of COVID-19 SOPs during Ramadan.
NCOC also announced to continue with the 50% work from home policy for all public and private offices, where intercity public transport is to operate at 50% of capacity.
Stringent protocols for tourism have been imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu Kashmir and tourist sites elsewhere.
“Sentinel testing sites at every point/selected locations will be established,” the notification read.