ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Tuesday said the government had decided to close indoor restaurants countrywide to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.
Briefing the media about the decisions taken by the National Coordination Committee, which met here with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair, he said the ban will not be valid for food stalls operating in open spaces. He said the NCC had also validated the decisions taken by the National Command and Operation Centre on the closure of schools.
He said the provincial governments had been asked to request the Ulema to appeal to the ‘Namazis’ to observe the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in mosques so that prayer and protection of health could go side by side. He said a proposal to close the mosques was rejected by the committee.
The minister said in view of increasing intensity and severity of the second wave of the pandemic, the government also imposed a ban on holding public gatherings. He appealed to the political leadership to avoid organizing public rallies to prevent the spread of the contagion.
He said Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser had convened a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on COVID-19 on Wednesday (today) and it was hoped that the leadership of all the political parties will attend the sitting to evolve a common strategy to contain the spread of the virus by not holding mass rallies.
The minister urged the people to realise the severity of the second wave of the pandemic, as at present around 1,750 people were onoxygen and in a critical condition.
Speaking on the occasion, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Regulations and Coordination Dr. Faisal Sultan said 2,900 new cases had been reported during the last 24 hours, while 212 affected patients had admitted to hospitals while the mortality rate had increased to 7.2 percent.
He said Pakistan had successfully overcome the first wave of the pandemic due to observance of a disciplined response to the virus by strictly following the SOPs. Meanwhile, as many as 48 corona patients died, while 2,954 more people tested positive for the deadly coronavirus during the last 24 hours.
The total active cases in Pakistan reached 40,379. About 41 patients lost their lives in hospitals, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday.
No affected person was on ventilator in Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir(AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan, while 281 ventilators elsewhere in Pakistan were occupied, out of 1,834 allocated for corona patients.
Some 39,165 tests were conducted across the country on Monday, including 10, 837 in Sindh, 15,678 in Punjab, 4,392 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 6,804 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 602 in Balochistan, 313 in Gilgit Baltistan (GB), and 539 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
Around 331,760 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan making it a significant count. Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 379,883 cases have been detected so far, including AJK 6,203, Balochistan 16,846, GB 4,558, ICT 27,555, KP 44,932, Punjab 115,138 and Sindh 164,651.
About 7,744 deaths have been recorded since the eruption of the contagion, including 2,845 in Sindh of whom 13 died in hospital on Monday, 2,879 in Punjab of whom 14 died in hospital, 1,330 in KP of whom three died in hospital, 285 in ICT of whom six died in hospital, 163 in Balochistan of whom two died in hospital, 95 in GB and 147 in AJK of whom three died in hospital. Around 5,256,120 tests have been conducted so far.
