Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has warned that the government could impose more restrictions in the coming weeks if the coronavirus situation did not change and cases and deaths continued to increase.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Umar said that the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had observed that people were not following precautionary measures against the virus as carefully as they did during the pandemic's first wave.

"If we still do not make better decisions, if we do not decide to deal with the [coronavirus] the way we did in the first wave — uniting and cooperating to combat the pandemic — then it pains me to say the situation might be such in a week or two that we have no option but to enforce restrictions on more sectors."

He said that the forum would propose in tomorrow's meeting of the National Coordination Committee that a relief package be announced for the sectors on which restrictions have been placed.