The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 46 more lives during the past 24 hours in the country, taking the overall death toll to 13,476, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday.
According to the NCOC, 2,338 fresh infections were reported during the aforesaid period and the national tally of cases has reached 602,536. The total count of active cases is 19,764 and 1,720 patients were stated to be in critical condition.
The positivity rate increased to 5.5 percent, as a total of 42,499 tests were conducted across the country during the past 24 hours while so far 9,445,138 samples have been tested. In the past 24 hours, as many as 1,231 more patients recovered, while so far 569,296 people have recovered from Covid-19.
Meanwhile, authorities in Punjab on Saturday imposed new restrictions in the province to curtail the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and have announced that commercial activities will close at 6:00pm everyday till the restrictions stay in effect.
The administration has decided to impose smart lockdown in more areas of Lahore, Rawalpindi and Gujrat amid increasing number Covid-19 cases. The third wave of Covid-19 also hit hard in Lahore as the number of deaths suddenly spiked rendering the total number of virus deaths in Punjab shy of 59. Around 62 percent of the deaths were reported in Lahore alone during the last 24 hours despite bans in place and little to no relaxation offered to citizens in the provincial capital.
The Punjab Auqaf department announced that Lahore’s Data Darbar and other shrines have been closed for devotees due to the rising number of coronavirus cases. The Auqaf department said that, in total, 547 shrines located across the province have been closed to stem the rising coronavirus cases. They added that the shrines will be closed till April 15.
Meanwhile, the manager of the Data Darbar said that the shrine’s mosque will only be opened for prayers. He added that all the coronavirus standard operating procedures will be followed during the prayers.
Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Peshawar Capt (retd) Khalid Mahmood announced micro-smart lockdowns in four areas of Peshawar due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases.
According to the DC’s statement, lockdowns will be imposed from Saturday evening onwards. The localities are: Hayatabad Phase 1 Street No.9, Hayatabad Phase 6 Street No.5, Gulbahar No.4 Street 3 and Defense Colony Street No.11. With the objective of limiting the spread of the virus, the micro-smart lockdowns will be implemented within specific streets and smaller localities as per the policy and directives of the federal government.
Since the widespread advent of the third wave of Covid-19 triggered in Pakistan, this has been the second smart lockdown imposed in Peshawar, the first one being imposed on Friday in four other areas, namely Hayatabad Phase 4 and 7, Shami Road, and a micro-smart lockdown was enforced in Muslimabad Kakshal.
Not following safety guidelines may be the reason for the drastic and sudden increase in the number of cases and subsequent deaths.
