Coronavirus: 10-day restriction imposed on tourism sites in AJK

A 10-day restriction on tourism sites has been imposed in Azad Jammu and Kashmir  amid a surge in coronavirus cases, a notification from the region's government said Wednesday.

The restrictions will remain in place from July 19 to July 29, while tourism-related activities will also remain suspended during these days, the notification said.

The decision comes after Pakistan's coronavirus positivity rate crossed 4% for the second time in the last three days Wednesday morning as the country continued to report a spike in its daily case count.

On Sunday, Pakistan had recorded its highest coronavirus positivity ratio at 4.09% since May 30, which was at 4.05%, according to the National Command and Operations Centre's (NCOC) data. Currently, the infection rate stands at 4.17%.

NCOC's data from Wednesday shows that 47,472 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours and 1,980 of them came back positive for coronavirus.

With 24 new fatalities from the virus, the national death tally pushed to 22,642.

The country's active number of cases crossed the 40,000-mark after a little over a month. The active cases now stand at 40,862.

According to the official portal, the number of recoveries from coronavirus in the country has reached 915,343 and the total number of cases has reached 978,847.

According to a province-wise breakdown, the total cases reported in Sindh so far are 349,586, in Punjab 348,725, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 139,710, in Islamabad Capital Territory 83,956, in Balochistan 28,434, in Gilgit-Baltistan 7,044 and in Azad Jammu and Kashmir 21,392.