Health minister urges people to stay indoors during Eid amid rising Covid cases

Says situation under control, no need to enforce smart lockdown

ISLAMABAD:

Minister for National Health Services Abdul Qadir Patel on Monday appealed to the people to stay indoors during the Eid holidays and observe precautionary measures in view of the rising trend of Covid cases.

Talking to media in Islamabad earlier today, he said the positivity ratio of coronavirus cases is over four per cent in the country.

He said the government has issued the standard operating procedures (SOPs), which were evolved earlier, to prevent the spread of the virus. He furthered that SOPs for government offices have also been issued.

During the press conference, he informed that 176 people were hospitalised and around five people are on ventilators during the last 24 hours.

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The minister said around 86 per cent of Pakistan's population is vaccinated, “while we are trying to inject booster shots to one million people.”

Patel said instructions have been issued to provinces to keep ready all the arrangements, including isolation centres, in view of a growing number of Covid cases.

He also emphasised increasing testing facilities in Karachi.

Replying to a question, the minister said the situation is under control and there is no need to enforce smart lockdown anywhere in the country.

Sindh's positivity rate at 10.53%

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) raised an alarm on Monday as the coronavirus spreads rapidly within the country with the highest daily number of cases reported in Sindh.

According to the NCOC, 508 people were diagnosed with Covid in Sindh within the last 24 hours as the positivity rate soared to 10.53 per cent.

Moreover, reports from Karachi suggest the port city’s positivity rate now stands at 20.61 per cent with 456 cases reported in the past 24 hours.

Nationwide, 675 Covid cases have been reported in the past 24 hours. Authorities stated that cases within all provinces are on the rise.

Hyderabad’s current positivity rate has reached 0.83 per cent, while Mirpur Azad Kashmir reports 2.44 per cent, Quetta 2.71 per cent, Mardan 2.21 per cent, Peshawar 4.51 per cent, Rawalpindi 0.75 per cent and Faisalabad 1.52 per cent.

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The federal capital has also seen a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 cases with a 3.48 per cent positivity rate. Similarly, Lahore has reached a positivity rate of 3.29 per cent, according to officials.

As the virus surges, four people were reported to have succumbed to Covid-19 in a day, whereas the positivity rate had reached 4%, according to the data released by the National Institution of Health (NIH) on July 2.

As per the NIH's daily tally, 818 people tested positive out of the 18,305 tests conducted in the past day.

Patel said that all possible measures were being taken to protect the people from the coronavirus.

In a statement, the minister advised people to follow the government’s guidelines in order to avoid the virus, including using face masks and maintaining social distance.