Corona cases on the rise again

KARACHI: In a bid to contain the spread of Covid-19 amid the recent spike in new cases, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Monday declared wearing of masks mandatory for domestic travel.

Passengers will be required to wear face masks while travelling in busses, trains and planes, said the NCOC. Earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had revised the travel advisory for domestic flights amid an increase in Covid-19 cases, making face masks mandatory for passengers.

The latest government data showed that Karachi was the most-affected city, reporting a high positivity ratio during the last few days. The metropolis recorded 22.65 per cent positivity in the last 24 hours when 234 people were tested positive after 1,033 tests were conducted, while the nationwide ratio was 2.85pc, the National Institute of Health (NIH) figures showed. Hyderabad reported 0.3pc positivity rate, Mardan 2.44pc, Islamabad 2.31pc, Lahore 2.76pc, Peshawar 3pc, Sargodha 1.64pc and Rawalpindi 1.05pc.

In addition to this, Sindh’s overall positivity rate stands at 6.17pc, Punjab’s 1.17pc, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s 1.15pc and AJK’s 2.94pc, said the NIH. As per the latest statistics of the NIH, two more people succumbed to the virus during the past 24 hours, taking the country's Covid-19 death toll to 30,390.

The fresh infections, detected after diagnostic testing on 13,412 samples, took Pakistan's Covid-19 positivity rate to 2.85pc and the total case count to over 1.53 million. In view of the recent spike in Covid-19 cases in the country, health experts have warned that the surge in new infections might turn into the sixth wave of the pandemic. Meanwhile, 87 patients suffering from the disease are being treated in intensive-care units (ICUs). With the fresh cases and deaths, Pakistan's number of active cases stands at 4,632.