Non-compliance of Covid SOPs a huge mistake, warns Asad

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar warned on Monday the situation was worsening due to non-compliance of Covid-19 SOPs, as the country reported 73 more deaths and 5,152 new cases during the past 24 hours.

In his tweet, he said oxygen supply capacity in the country was now under stress and the SOPs’ compliance remained low. “We are making a huge mistake by not following SOPs,” he warned.

He said the number of Covid patients in hospitals was growing quickly and the critical cases had reached 4,000 to 5,000 in the country, adding: “The current critical cases are 30 per cent more than the cases during June 2020”.

The minister, who is also Chairman National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said: “We are seeing some of the worst numbers since Covid started. Our neighbourhood is in severe crises.” He added daily deaths in Iran were more than 300 and in India more than 1,600 people were dying of the pandemic.

He stressed the need for adopting safety precautions more than ever.

According to the NCOC’s latest update, the country reported 73 corona-related deaths in the past 24 hours taking the nationwide tally of fatalities to 16,316 on Monday, while 5,152 people tested positive surging the number of Covid-19 cases to 761,437.

Among the 73 deaths during the past 24 hours, 71 patients were under treatment in hospitals and two in their respective quarantines or homes. Nineteen patients were on ventilators. Most of the deaths occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) i.e.32 followed by Punjab, 27.

Maximum ventilators were occupied in four major areas i.e. Multan, 81 per cent; Nowshera, 100 per cent; Gujranwala, 88 per cent; and Lahore, 81 per cent. Around 538 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country, while no Covid affected person was on ventilator in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and Balochistan.

Some 60,162 tests were conducted across the country on Sunday. Around 662,845 patients, including 3,362 people during the past 24 hours, have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan making it a significant count with over 90 per cent recovery ratio. Sindh has so far reported 272,729 coronavirus cases; Punjab, 270,338; KP 106,500; Balochistan, 20,940; Islamabad, 70,079; Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 15,669; and GB 5,182.

A total of 11,204,529 corona tests have been conducted so far, while 630 hospitals are equipped with Covid facilities. Some 5,349 corona patients were admitted in hospitals across the country.