NCOC extends curbs in Covid hotspots for another week

Single-day tally of new surges past 4,000; number of active cases comes down to 91,589

ISLAMABAD:

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) extended on Monday the coronavirus-induced restrictions in 24 districts of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad Capital Territory for another week in the wake of high prevalence of the pandemic disease.

The forum, which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s unified strategy to contain the spread of the disease, had imposed some additional restriction in 24 districts from September 4-11, closing schools and indoor gatherings and restricting public transport.

The restrictions were imposed in the ICT, Sargodha, Khushab, Mianwali, Rahimyar Khan, Khanewal, Faisalabad, Bhakkar, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Multan, Bahawalpur, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Sheikhupura in Punjab, and Haripur, Malakand, Mansehra, Sawabi, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, Abbotabad and Peshawar districts.

According to the forum, these restrictions had been extended in districts where the coronavirus was the most prevalent. All schools in those districts would remain closed until September 15, the ban on indoor and outdoor gatherings will remain in place along with the ban on intercity transport.

The NCOC said that it was monitoring the pandemic situation on a daily basis. The forum added that a review meeting on the new sanctions would be held on September 15 in which decision would be taken on further actions.

The NCOC announcement came as the single-day tally of new Covid cases surged past 4,000 during the past 24 hours, depicting a national positivity ratio of 6.43%, despite showing a declining trend over the last week.

The NCOC said in its daily update of the disease prevalence that national tally of active Covid-19 cases fell to 91,589, as 4,062 more people tested positive for the virus while 4,136 people recovered from the disease during the last 24 hours.

The forum said that at present, 5,788 patients were admitted to various Covid-dedicated healthcare facilities across the country, adding that 5,383 of them were still in critical condition. According to the update, 538 patients were on ventilators.

The NCOC said that 84 patients, 80 of whom in the hospitals, including 38 on ventilators, died during the past 24 hours. Most of the deaths, 43, occurred in Sindh followed by 20 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and 17 in Punjab.

As of Thursday, the national caseload of the disease, since the pandemic outbreak in February 2020, rose to 1,194,198, including 1,076,112 recoveries. The nationwide death toll had risen to 26,497, the NCOC bulletin added.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)