President Arif Alvi has urged the nation to follow the standard operating procedures set by the government and take precautions in order to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

"Keep [your] distance from each other. This will lead to two things: herd immunity will develop and we will be able to tackle with this [virus] with time," he said.

He added that testing capacity was also being increased and expressed hope that the virus would be defeated soon.