ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar after chairing a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday warned of more restrictions and imposing a complete lockdown in major cities to control the worsening situation of Covid-19 in the country, as the country reeled with 148 deaths and 5,499 positive cases in the course of just 24 hours.
“We will have to increase the restrictions and if we do not contain the rapid spread of the pandemic, we will have no option but to impose a complete lockdown in the big cities,” Asad Umar told the media after the meeting. He said they would present their recommendations to the National Coordination Committee (NCC) tomorrow (Friday), which would take the final decision. “The country is only a few days away from the complete lockdown so the people must follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to stem the surge of Covid-19,” he warned the people.
The minister’s statement came after another 148 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported from across the country during the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 16,600.
The count of critical patients has now increased to 5,499. Umar while hinting at the possibility of hospitals becoming overwhelmed soon also warned that the supply of oxygen had almost reached 90 percent of the total capacity. Punjab reported an alarming 103 more deaths with 2,969 new Covid-19 cases,followed by 37 deaths in KP and 1,242 new cases, Sindh reported 885 new coronavirus cases with three deaths. At least 127 more people contracted the novel coronavirus in Balochistan overnight.
The positivity rate, which for few days had gone below the double figure, was recorded at 11.62 percent as another 5,499 people out of 47,301 tests conducted were found positive for the infection. The positivity ratio has increased at alarming rate with 38 percent in Bahawalpur, 33 percent in Mardan, 28 percent in Rawalpindi, 27 percent in Lahore, 26 percent in Peshawar, 25 percent in Faisalabad, and 20 percent in Nowshera.
Terming the situation as grim, Asad Umar regretted that neither the people nor the administration were showing their responsibility to ensure full compliance of the precautions and anti-COVID SOPs issued by the government. “This is the last chance that the people should take the pandemic serious as they did in the first wave last year, as otherwise, they would have to suffer from strict restrictions,” Asad Umar said. He asked the chief ministers of all provinces to show leadership, saying that every possible assistance would be extended to provinces, but they would have to show leadership so that their people understand the message.
The test positivity ratio in Sindh was low, but it was increasing gradually as it was recorded 13 percent in Karachi and 14 percent in Hyderabad. The minister said the number of corona patients admitted to hospitals had also increased to over 600 per day from 100 to 150 earlier. He said in June last year when the pandemic was on peak in the first wave, the maximum number of patients on oxygen was around 3,400, which had now increased to 4,500, an increase of about 30 percent. “In several cities, more than 80pc of ventilators are in use,” he said.
The NCOC chairman said the current week would be the worst in terms of the number of deaths as highest ever number of Covid patients are dying. The minister said the number of oxygen beds in hospitals was being increased and the situation at the moment was under control, however, it might go out of control if corona cases keep on rising. He said the country had limited oxygen production capacity. He said the supply of oxygen had almost reached 90 percent of the total capacity.
About the regional picture, the minister said that in Iran the daily coronavirus cases had increased to 25,000 and 395 deaths per day. Similarly in India, about 14,000 new cases and 90 deaths per day were being reported earlier, but Tuesday the number increased to over 275.000 cases and 1,761 deaths. The whole region, he said, was in the grip of very dangerous Covid-19 wave, adding that new variant of coronavirus was spreading rapidly in India and that was why Pakistan has decided to ban traveling to and from the neighbouring country.
