Is Pakistan considering another coronavirus lockdown?

By
Web Desk
|

  • Parliamentary Health Secretary Dr Nausheen Hamid says coronavirus cases on the rise, but complete lockdown not being considered.
  • Places emphasis on need to vaccinate more people.
  • Says restrictions will remain in place in cities where coronavirus rate has not gone down.


The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) plans to review the spread of coronavirus across Pakistan in a day or two, says Parliamentary Health Secretary Dr Nausheen Hamid, as the country continues its battle against the pandemic's fourth wave.

Despite an increase in daily counts of cases and deaths, Dr Hamid clarified that a "complete lockdown" is not being considered. Restrictions, however, may be increased in various areas in the form of more smart lockdowns, where required, the parliamentary health secretary shared in a brief appearance on Geo News programme Geo Pakistan Thursday.

She said an increase in COVID-19 cases has been noted in cities and localities where virus standard operating procedures are not being followed.

According to Dr Hamid, the NCOC will review the situation in a day or two and restrictions will remain in place in cities where the coronavirus rate has not decreased.

The parliamentary secretary said that the government's main focus is on vaccination, which is why the process of vaccination is being expedited and there are currently 3,000 mobile vaccination units in operation across the country.

What is the current situation of coronavirus in Pakistan?

Over 4,500 people tested positive for the coronavirus in the last 24 hours in Pakistan, as per the NCOC's stats from Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, another 85 people lost their lives to the virus. As many as 4,553 people tested positive for the virus after 61,446 COVID-19 tests were taken, as per the NCOC's data. This brings the positivity rate to 7.4%.

The total number of active cases in the country rose to 92,244 on August 26.

A total of 1,022,847 people have so far recovered from the virus while the total number of deaths, with the fresh count of 85 fatalities, have risen to 25,320. Pakistan's total confirmed case count now stands at 1,140,411.

A day earlier, Pakistan reported 141 coronavirus-related deaths, the highest number of fatalities recorded in one day since 161 deaths were recorded nearly four months ago on May 4.