ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed authorities concerned to take all possible measures to check the spread of COVID-19 in the country and protect the lives of people.
While presiding over a high-level meeting to review the overall situation of coronavirus in the country, he said Pakistan had been successful in tackling the first wave of COVID-19 due to its effective strategy and timely decisions, which was also recognized by the world.
Besides federal ministers Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Shafqat Mehmood, Hammad Azhar, Senator Shibli Faraz, Ejaz Shah and Asad Umar, the meeting was attended by special assistants Sania Nishtar and Dr Faisal Sultan, Advisor to PM Abdul Razzak Dawood and Minister of State Ali Muhammad Khan.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said there has been a resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the country, adding that it has prompted the authorities to place several virus hotspots under micro smart lockdown for two weeks.
He said the government was concerned that hospitals in major cities would be full like in June if people didn’t follow the SOPs.
PM Imran also directed to summon the meeting of the National Coordination Committee on COVID0-19 for consultation and taking various decisions in that regard. Now during the second wave as well they should not at all abandon seriousness, balance and precautions, he added.
The meeting was told about the decisions taken in the meeting of the National Command and Control Center (NCOC).
The prime minister was briefed in detail about various aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including its spread in the country, loss of previous lives and the capacity of hospitals.
The coronavirus has claimed 34 more lives in Pakistan, bringing the total death toll to 7,696. According to statistics released by the National Command and Operations Center on Monday, 2,756 more cases of coronavirus have been reported in the last 24 hours and the total number of affected people has reached 376,929.
The number of people recovering from coronavirus in Pakistan is 330,885 and 38,348 are undergoing treatment. The condition of 1,677 patients infected with coronavirus is critical.
The number of coronavirus cases in Islamabad is 27,018, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 44,599, Sindh 1, 63,329, Punjab 1,14,508, Balochistan 16,810, Azad Kashmir 6,123 and Gilgit-Baltistan 4,542.
The highest number of deaths due to coronavirus is in Punjab where 2,861 people have lost their lives. 2,829 people have lost their lives in Sindh, 1,325 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 327 in Islamabad, 95 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 161 in Balochistan, and 144 in Azad Kashmir.
