ISLAMABAD: Alarm bells have started ringing among the policymakers of the country as the nationwide positivity ratio of Pakistan jumped past 7% on Tuesday.
The data issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed that 2,511 people out of 35,303 tested positive for the coronavirus in the last 24 hours pushing the positivity ratio to 7.11%.
The situation in Federal Capital is more alarming where the positivity ratio has reached 7.7%, according to the District Health Officer.
The new positive cases has taken the national total to 609,964. The NCOC said that 11,089 cases have been reported in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 19,233 in Balochistan, 4,961 in Gilgit Baltistan, 48,495 in Islamabad, 76,379 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 188,225 in Punjab, and 261,582 in Sindh.
The total number of active coronavirus cases in Pakistan stands at 23,355.
On the other hand, the country also lost 58 people to the deadly virus in the last 24 hours with the most deaths occurring in Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The new deaths takes the national tally of coronavirus deaths to 13,595. The breakdown showed that 4,461 patients have died in Sindh, 5,812 in Punjab, 2,169 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 526 in Islamabad, 202 in Balochistan, 103 in Gilgit Baltistan, 322 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
NCOC asks provinces to take action against SOPs violations
Amid the rising cases, the NCOC on Monday advised the provincial administrations of all federating units to take strict administrative actions against the masses flouting standard operating procedures (SOPs) of COVID-19.
The body emphasised the provincial authorities to ensure massive crackdown against all those failing to implement non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs or alternate measure to treat the pandemic other than medical treatment).