Pakistan virus cases go past 100,000 mark

PESHAWAR: The number of people infected by the novel coronavirus in Pakistan surged past 100, 000 as another 4728 tested positive for the disease in the last 24 hours.

According to the data shared by the National Command and Control Centre, at least 65 have died from the virus, bringing the nationwide tally of virus deaths to 2,067.

Punjab has become the worst-hit province by the pandemic followed by Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

As of Monday, there are 38,903 coronavirus cases in Punjab, 38,108 in Sindh, 13,487 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 6,516 in Balochistan, 5,329 in Islamabad, 932 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 396 in Azad Kashmir.

A total of 22650 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours and of them 4,728 came out positive.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has said Pakistan is among the pioneers of smart lockdown strategy, coupled with strict adherence to Standard Operating Procedures against Covid 19.

In series of tweets on Saturday evening, the prime minister observed that a lockdown meant collapse of the economy and a steep rise in poverty in poor country, crushing the poor as has happened in India.

To check the spread of Covid-19, he once again emphasized creation of public awareness about the severity of the disease and importance of SOPs.

The Prime Ministers said the world has discovered the smart lockdown as the only strategy to contain the contagion besides continuing the economic activity with certain SOPs in place.

The prime minister appealed to the civil society, media, Ulema and the tiger force ‘to create awareness amongst the public about severity of the pandemic.

He said it is dilemma that On the one hand the masses are not taking the COVID19 pandemic seriously & on the other, understandably, the frontline doctors & health professionals are facing great risk.