COVID-19: With winter approaching, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan warns of second wave
All offices and educational institutions must ensure masks are worn, he says
Islamabad: Pakistan today reported six deaths and 632 new cases of coronavirus in a period of twenty-four hours taking the overall death toll to 6,513 and the infections 314,616 respectively.
Though compared to its neighbouring country, India, Pakistan is reporting quite fewer cases on a daily basis yet the authorities are concerned the number might rise in the coming days with schools and colleges reopening recently. Besides, people too believing that coronavirus is gone have given up following the health guidelines.
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Prime Minister Imran Khan too expressed these concerns on Sunday in a tweet saying with the winter season approaching fast, another wave of coronavirus might hit the country.
Khan cautioned the public to beware of a second wave and keep wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.
While referring to Pakistan’s doing well during the ‘first wave’ he said, “Compared to some other states, Allah has been kind to us in Pakistan and spared us worst effects of Covid-19. All offices and educational institutions must ensure masks are worn,” he said.
Two colleges sealed in Islamabad
Islamabad’s district administration has sealed two colleges (one for boys and the other for girls) for one week over emergence of coronavirus cases there. These educational institutions will now open on October 12, 2020.
In Islamabad College for Boys (ICB) G-6/3 two teachers tested positive while in the Islamabad Model College for Girls (IMCG) in F-7/4, two students and one aya (female helper) were diagnosed with COVID-19.
Both the institutions have been sealed following the emergence of coronavirus cases there.
According to the District Health Office the buildings of these institutions will be disinfected and contact tracing will be carried out to ascertain virus doesn’t spread further.
Balochistan reports positive cases
In Balochistan more than 500 positive cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the province’s educational institutions since their opening last month.
According to the spokesperson of the corona cell, Dr. Waseem Baig the health department conducted 6,530 tests for coronavirus in schools, colleges and universities of the province during this period and so far 550 positive cases have been recorded.
According to Dr. Baig, after the first phase of opening of educational institutions since September 15, the government of Balochistan has been conducting tests in all the government-run schools, colleges and universities and over a dozen of them have been closed due to emergence of new cases there.
Spike in cases in Punjab
Meanwhile, Punjab has reported another spike in coronavirus cases with 147 infections in the last 24 hours. A day earlier, the number of new cases in a day was 60. According to the health ministry’s COVID-19 portal, the provincial total is close to 100,000 (99,812). The province has also reported two more deaths from the virus, taking the total number of fatalities to 2,240.