Behave or face full lockdowns in big cities, warns Asad
Ag Agencies
ISLAMABAD: National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) chief Asad Umar has warned that the government would be left with no choice but to impose complete lockdowns in major cities if people fail to take the Covid pandemic seriously amid a third wave surge that claimed another 148 lives.
“We will have to increase the restrictions. If we do not contain the rapid spread of pandemic, we will have no option but to impose a complete lockdown in the big cities,” the Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives said after chairing a meeting of the NCOC on Wednesday.
His warning came as Pakistan registered 148 Covid fatalities — the third highest single-day deaths since the epidemic began, and only five victims short of the first wave peak of 153 in June last year. The country also recorded 5,499 infections.
He said the NCOC would present their recommendations to the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Friday (tomorrow), which would take the final decision. The minister warned that this was “the last chance” for the people to take the pandemic as seriously as they did in the first wave last year, “otherwise, they would have to suffer from strict restrictions”.
He regretted that neither the people were being responsible nor administrations were ensuring full compliance with precautions and standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the government. He requested provincial chief ministers to show leadership in that regard. “All possible assistance [from the federal government] is at their disposal, but they have to show leadership on ground as the people will follow their message,” Umar added.
Umar again warned that the country was “only a few days away from complete lockdown” so the people must follow the SOPs to stem the surge of Covid-19. The number of active coronavirus patients, he said, “has now risen to over 83,000 from a few thousand a few weeks ago”.
The minister also listed cities where the Covid test positivity ratio was seeing an “alarming” increase — 33 per cent in Mardan, 26 per cent in Peshawar, 20 per cent in Noshehra, 38 per cent in Bahawalpur, 25 per cent in Faisalabad, 27 per cent in Lahore, 21 per cent in Multan and 28 per cent in Rawalpindi. The test positivity ratio in Sindh province, however, was relatively low but was also rising as Karachi and Hyderabad recorded 13 per cent and 14 per cent positivity ratios respectively.
The minister said the number of Covid patients were being 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 in its first wave peak, the “maximum number of patients on oxygen was around 3,400, which had now increased to 4,500”. Umar lamented the current week would be the worst in terms of the number of deaths, as the “highest ever number of Covid patients” had expired. “A week earlier, not more than 26 patients were dying of Covid, but the number has now crossed 137 per day,” he added.
The minister said the number of oxygen beds in hospitals was being increased and the situation “at the moment is under control”, however, it might go out of control if Covid cases kept on rising.
He said the country has limited oxygen production capacity. “The supply of oxygen has almost reached 90 per cent of the total capacity,” he added.
As regards the region, the minister said in Iran the daily Covid 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 yesterday the number was increased to over 275,000 cases and 1,761 deaths”.
“The whole region is in the grip of very dangerous Covid wave,” the minister said, adding a new variant of the coronavirus was spreading rapidly in India and that was why Pakistan had decided to ban travelling to and from the neighbouring country.
