COVID-19: New restrictions imposed in Pakistan due to spike in cases

Islamabad: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) in a meeting on Sunday decided to impose new instructions including a ban on wedding ceremonies from April 5 onwards in cities and districts where the positivity rate is more than 8 per cent.

The decision has been taken in view of a spike in the number of coronavirus cases across the country. The country’s single-day tally of cases was 4,767 and the positivity rate was 10.4 per cent while in Lahore it was 23.

According to Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiative Asad Umar who is also head of the NCOC, the meeting took stock of the COVID-19 situation that is worsening day by day and chief secretaries of all the provinces were asked to ensure strict compliance with the coronavirus Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

“As part of new restrictions to contain the third wave of the novel coronavirus and based on continuing increase in disease spread and the fast pace at which hospital fill up is taking place, particularly critical COVID patients, NCOC has decided to further tighten restrictions,” said Asad Umar in another tweet.

According to the NCOC, it will provide updated hotspot maps to all the provinces for enforcement of expanded lockdowns with effect from 29th March 21.

Pakistan on Sunday reported 57 deaths in a period of 24 hours taking the death toll to 14,215 in the country due to COVID-19. The number of active cases has also jumped to 44,447 that were less than 30,000 two weeks ago.

Punjab is again ahead of other provinces in reporting single-day cases with 2,823 infections while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) comes next with 979 followed by Islamabad, 538 cases and then Sindh with 252 new infections.

Along with weddings, all kinds of indoor and outdoor gatherings were also banned with immediate effect. This order includes all social, cultural, political, sports gatherings and other events, said Asad Umar in his media interaction after the meeting.

Meanwhile, police in Lahore launched a crackdown on big shopping malls, hotels and restaurants for violations of COVID-19 SOPs.

For the first time, an FIR (First Information Report) was lodged and a case was registered over these violations.

A citizen Muhammad Javed was nominated in the FIR for not wearing a mask in the Islampura (Krishan Nagar) police station.

Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Ghulam Muhammad Dogar said action would be taken against those who violated SOPs under the provincial government’s zero-tolerance policy.

Lahore Commissioner Muhammad Usman also warned those who did not wear masks that they would be apprehended and sent to the lock-up.

Lahore is among the top most cities adversely hit by COVID-19 as 1,725 persons were infected with the virus in the last one day while the positivity rate in the city according to the NCOC remained 23 per cent.

Meanwhile, Vice President of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and daughter of the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Maryam Nawaz limited her political activities for four days because of sore throat and fever.

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief and President of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Maulana Fazlur Rehman has also limited political activities due to health problems.

Both the leaders also got tested for COVID-19 that however resulted in negative.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb in a statement confirmed Maryam was suffering from “high fever and throat pain”. The PML-N vice president has been advised by doctors to rest, added Aurangzeb.