Pakistan has reported more than 3,000 daily coronavirus cases and 59 deaths during the last 24 hours. This is the highest daily total of infections the country has reported since July 9.
Data from the government's portal to track the spread of the disease in the country shows that 3,009 infections were reported on November 24, taking the national total to 382,892. Meanwhile, with 59 new deaths, the toll has risen to 7,803.
Region-wise breakdown of cases and deaths reported in the last 24 hours:
- Sindh: 1,382 cases, 13 deaths
- KP: 382 cases, 9 deaths
- Balochistan: 45 cases, 1 death
- Punjab: 648 cases, 25 deaths
- Islamabad: 424 cases, 6 deaths
- Azad Jammu and Kashmir: 113 cases, 4 deaths
- Gilgit-Baltistan: 15 cases, 1 death
A day earlier, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar had expressed the fear that the country might face the worst coronavirus situation in two weeks time if preventive measures were not strictly adhered to.
“We experienced a peak in Covid-19 cases in June and if we do not follow standard operating procedures (SOPs), we may face the worst situation in the next two weeks,” he said at a joint press conference with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan after a National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) meeting chaired by the premier.
The NCOC made important decisions, endorsing the decision by the education minister regarding educational institutions, ban on indoor dining in restaurants and public gatherings, strict implementation of SOPs and engaging ulema for observance of SOPs in mosques.
Umar also urged opposition parties to avoid holding public meetings to curb spread of the deadly virus and asked all parliamentary parties to attend a meeting of Parliamentary Committee on Covid-19 being held today at the Parliament House.
Although opposition parties have announced that they will not take part in the committee’s meeting, the minister said: “I appeal to all parliamentary parties to attend the meeting because politics will continue but first we have to save the people’s life by unanimously deciding the future line of action to combat coronavirus.”
Umar said the government had started issuing warnings in early October as it had anticipated that the situation would worsen if SOPs were not strictly followed.
“Last three weeks’ data of coronavirus reveals that we are heading towards the earlier worst situation,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr Sultan said the second wave of Covid-19 might be worse than the previous one. “In some countries a third wave of the virus has struck,” he added.
He urged people to support the government’s efforts in effectively dealing with the second wave of Covid-19 by adopting all preventive measures against the disease.
“Covid-19 case positivity ratio has risen to 7.50pc which was only 2pc when the situation was under control,” he said terming it an alarming situation. The SAPM said the disease positivity ratio was observed with counting total number of positive cases per 100 persons.
Dr Faisal said violation of SOPs was the main reason behind this increasing trend as people had started ignoring all preventive measures.