PTI govt warns it will be closing more sectors if coronavirus SOP violations continue

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has warned that the government may have no choice but to impose further restrictions in the next two weeks if the violation of coronavirus SOPs continues across the country.

Addressing a press conference after the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) meeting, Umar noted the rising spread of coronavirus in the country and said there may come a point in the next two weeks when the government will be left with no choice but to close down more sectors.

Regretting the public's 'non-serious attitude' towards the deadly virus, the NCOC chief said a drastic decision will have to be made if the nation does not stand united in the fight to contain the second wave of COVID-19 infections.

He noted that the government had limited public gatherings to 300 but the decision was not being implemented. "Due to this, he said, the coronavirus spread has increased.

Umar also termed the Opposition leaders' political statements on coronavirus as "dangerous", adding that the public was not taking precautions due to the contradictory messages it was receiving.

"One of the major differences from the first wave is that there is no unified stance on coronavirus second wave," he said, appealing to political leaders and the masses to follow COVID-19 SOPs. 

"Democracy does not mean political leaders risk people's health and employment," underscored Umar. 

Read more: Asad Umar requests masses to practice coronavirus safety precautions

Worsening numbers

The NCOC chief said the case positivity rate climbed to over 8% last week, compared to a low of 2% in October. "This means that coronavirus prevalence has increased close to four times."

A total of 2,963 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 426,142. With 60 new deaths, the country's coronavirus death toll reached 8,547. 

So far, a total of 372,271 people have recovered from the virus while the active number of cases stands at 45,324. With 38,092 tests conducted across Pakistan, the positivity rate has reached 7.78%%.