Pakistan's virus death toll crosses 1,100 mark

Total cases surpass 53,000 as experts’ warning throng to the wind

The coronavirus death toll across the country crossed the 1,100 mark on Saturday with cases surging over 53,000 as businesses continued to run and people thronged markets for Eid shopping after the government eased the restriction put in place to stop the coronavirus from spreading.

With 14 new fatalities reported in Sindh, the death toll across the province reached 354. According to the Sindh chief minister, “155 patients are in critical condition”.

A total of 381 people died in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) so far, 324 in Punjab, 39 in Balochistan, 12 in Islamabad, four in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and one in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Earlier, health experts and government ministers had predicted that the country would witness a peak in Covid-19 cases and resultant deaths at the end of May and the start of June.

This month, the government started easing the two-month-long lockdown over fears of a devastating financial impact of this crisis, especially on the low-income group of the society and also asked the people to strictly adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Moreover, the nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients so far stands at 53,223 with 21,645 in Sindh, 7,391 in K-P, 18,730 in Punjab, 3,198 in Balochistan, 1,457 in Islamabad, 607 in G-B and 195 in AJK. The virus has so far claimed 1,115 lives while at least 16,851 coronavirus patients have recovered.

The flow of people to the country has also contributed to the number in cases as out of 294 cases reported in K-P on Saturday, 64 were from Torkham and 34 from international flights.

As many as 112 nationals stranded in Afghanistan were repatriated via the Torkham border during the day. Following the procedures for travellers, all the citizens would be sent to quarantine centres in Landi Kotal where they will be tested for Covid-19.

Zafar Mirza, the defacto health minister, on Friday warned that the Covid-19 situation could further worsen if the people do not practice the precautionary measures in their daily life routine.

“This relaxation policy can be successfully implemented if citizens fully cooperate with the government and implement all SOPs otherwise there are high chances that the disease will spread,” he said while addressing a news conference.

Authorities have stressed the need for coordinated efforts to stem the spread of the virus and overcome the wide impacts of the pandemic. One such effort is ‘test, track and quarantine (TTQ)’ strategy that according to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) helped the country in boosting the testing capacity.

Since the implementation of the TTQ, the testing capacity has been increased twice-fold, the NCOC said. Last Sunday, it reported over 30 times increase in the testing capacity – with 14,878 tests were conducted in a single data – as around 70 laboratories were now conducting tests against only two in mid-March.