COVID-19 claims 161 more lives

Ag APP

ISLAMABAD: The national tally of total active COVID-19 cases reached 86,151 on Tuesday with 3,377 more people testing positive for the deadly virus and 5,018 recoveries.

One hundred and sixty-one corona patients died during past 24 hours, 140 of whom were under treatment in hospitals and 21 out of the hospitals in their respective quarantines or homes, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

During the past 24 hours, most of the deaths occurred in the Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Out of the total 161 deaths, 70 were on ventilators. The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major areas including Lahore with 67 percent, Multan 76 percent, Gujranwala 62 percent and Bahawalpur 56 percent. The maximum Oxygen beds were occupied in four major areas of Lahore with 56 percent, Swabi 67 percent, Peshawar 63 percent and Swat 66 percent.

Around 666 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country, while no COVID-affected person was on ventilator in Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan.

Some 37,587 tests were conducted across the country on Monday, including 12,696 in Sindh, 14,137 in Punjab, 6,030 in KP, 3,596 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 424 in Balochistan, 392 in GB, and 312 in AJK. Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 837,523 cases were detected that also included the perished, recovered and under treatment COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile, the NCOC decided to formulate monitoring teams at federal, provincial and district levels to ensure implementation of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) from May 8-16. The forum decided that during the period all business and shops would remain closed with few exceptions like food outlets, grocery stores, paramedics, petrol pumps and bakeries etc. The forum was informed that there would be a complete ban on tourism for both locals and outsiders. All tourist resorts, formal and informal picnic spots, public parks, shopping malls, all hotels and restaurants in or around tourist or picnic spots would remain closed.

Travel nodes leading to tourist or picnic spots both in hilly spots of Northern Areas and sea views or beaches in south would also be closed. However, locals especially the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir would be allowed to travel back home. The NCOC session was chaired by Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and co-chaired by National Coordinator Lieutenant General Hamood Uz Zaman Khan. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, Dr Faisal Sultan was also present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination said that the per day figure of COVID-19 vaccine for citizens had reached to 164,168 against the previous number of 150,000. Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that a significant improvement was seen in SOPs compliance to control spread of COVID-19 after the stronger enforcement measures including military deployment. He said in a tweet that the national average compliance has doubled from 34 percent on April 25 to 68 percent on May 3. He also stressed the need to sustain and build on this compliance level specially till Eidul Fitr.