Pakistan warns of new lockdown as COVID-19 death rate rises 140%

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At least 19 people have died from coronavirus in Pakistan in past 24 hours (File)

Islamabad:

Pakistan’s senior body, which is overseeing the response to the coronavirus pandemic, warned on Wednesday that strict measures, including lockdown, could be taken to contain the infection if people did not stop violating government guidelines, as the country’s COVID-19 death rate increased 140% from recent weeks.

“The National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) is closely monitoring the situation. If there is no improvement in observed SOP compliance, the NCOC will have no choice but to revert to strict measures leading to service shutdowns, ”the agency said in a statement Wednesday.

During a special CNOC session to monitor an increase in cases, the body headed by Planning Minister Asad Umar was informed that there was a clear resurgence of the virus as deaths also increased. All chief secretaries have been urged to “strictly enforce” standard operating procedures (SOPs), Geo TV reported, citing the statement.

“Strict punitive actions on SOP violations will be taken,” he said, adding that the wearing of face masks and social distancing must be guaranteed.

At least 19 people have died from the coronavirus in Pakistan in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 6,692.

The NCOC statement comes a day after Umar said Pakistan’s COVID-19 death rate rose 140% last week and warned the public against ignoring safety protocols.

“Last week the daily mortality from COVID was 12. This is a 140 percent increase from a few weeks back. We collectively make a mistake in recklessly ignoring all SoPs and the results have started If we don’t change our current path, we will lose both lives and livelihoods, ”he tweeted on Tuesday.

At the same time, the Cabinet expressed serious concern over the increase in coronavirus cases in the country and called on the population to take the necessary precautions against the expected second wave of the pandemic.

Radio Pakistan reported that a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad was informed of the increase in the number of new cases in October compared to figures for July and August.

It has been pointed out that the COVID-19 positivity rate has risen to 2%, while the number of deaths has also increased.

The positivity rate is the percentage of positive results out of the total number of tests sampled.

The Department of National Health Services said the total number of COVID-19 cases rose to 324,744 after 660 new infections were reported in the past 24 hours.

So far, 308,674 people have fully recovered from the disease, while 559 are in critical condition, according to the ministry.

Sindh reported 142,348 cases, Punjab 101,936, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 38,779, Islamabad 18,309, Balochistan 15,717, Gilgit-Baltistan 4,091 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 3,564 cases.

Authorities have carried out 26,670 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests carried out in the country to 4,148,739.

(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)

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