-Lahore tops single-day infections tally, reports 973 cases
-Restrictions imposed across Punjab
-Covid kills 32, infects 2,664 in 24 hours countrywide
-3 Islamabad subsectors sealed
-Lockdowns start from today in major cities
-NCOC calls for strict observance of SOPs
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: As the third wave of the novel coronavirus intensifies in the country, Punjab on Sunday reported more than 1,600 Covid-19 cases for the first time since June 2020.
Data from the government’s coronavirus portal showed that 1,653 new infections were detected in the province in the last 24 hours, marking the fifth straight day Punjab recorded more than 1,000 cases.
The last time the province reported such a high number of cases was during the first wave on June 24, 2020, when it confirmed 1,655 infections. The province’s tally now stands at 185,468. The majority of cases 973 were reported in the capital, Lahore, followed by 81 in Gujranwala, 76 in Sialkot, and 73 in Rawalpindi, according to the daily situation report from the health department.
Amid the rising cases, the provincial government has imposed a lockdown in seven high-burdened cities, restricting the movement of the people to their homes, while “all commercial activities, establishments, markets and areas throughout the province of Punjab shall be closed by 6pm.”
The major lockdown will start from Monday (today) for two weeks in the seven cities (Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Gujrat) after a gap of a year. During the first wave of the infection, the government had imposed a complete lockdown across the province in March 2020.
While issuing a notification on Saturday, the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department said a major lockdown had been imposed in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Gujrat, restricting the movement of the people within these districts and outside them. There shall also be a complete ban on gatherings of all kinds for social, religious or other purposes at any place, public or private, in these seven cities. All types of marriage and banquet halls, community centres and marquees will remain closed in these cities.
There shall also be a complete ban on all kinds of indoor gatherings while outdoor gatherings shall continue with upper limit of 50 people in the seven cities.
The government further said that there shall be a complete ban on indoor and outdoor dining in the seven cities while only takeaway and home delivery shall be allowed.
Restrictions imposed throughout Punjab: All commercial activities, establishments, markets and areas in Punjab shall be closed by 6pm. All public, private offices shall follow 50pc work from home policy. Complete ban on all indoor gatherings. Outdoor gatherings with a maximum limit of 300 persons allowed for 2 hours. All sports, cultural and other activities banned. All public and private offices shall follow the 50 per cent work from home policy throughout the province, according to the notification. The upper limit for outdoor gatherings in the rest of the province is 300 people for the maximum duration of two hours. “All kinds of sports, cultural and other activities and events shall remain banned throughout the province,” reads the notification.
Earlier this month, schools were closed in seven cities of the province Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Lahore, Gujrat, Multan, Rawalpindi and Sialkot till March 28. Overall, the country reported 2,664 new coronavirus cases and 32 deaths on March 13. UK variant behind increase in cases: One of the major reasons for the sharp surge of the cases was the presence of a highly infectious UK variant of the virus. According to data generated by the next-generation sequencing (NGS) system, which has been imported from China, the United Kingdom’s highly infectious variant is present in Lahore, Jhelum, Okara, and Gujrat.
“The cluster-based surveillance of samples from different pockets of Punjab, including the four cities, shows about 70 per cent spike which correlates to the already-reported UK variant strain,” said a health official. He said a technical team of Punjab’s health department was working to get the sequencing data.
According to him, 70pc of the total cases reported in Punjab since April were of the infection originating in Wuhan, China. NCOC data: The national tally on Sunday of total active COVID-19 cases recorded 21,121 with 2,664 more people tested positive for the deadly virus and 1,275 people recovered from the disease during the last 24 hours.
Thirty-two corona patients have died during past 24 hours, 31 of whom were under treatment in hospital and one out of hospital in respective quarantine or home, according to the latest update issued by the National command and Operation Centre (NCOC).
During the last 24 hours most of the deaths had occurred in the Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major areas including Multan 28 percent, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) 38 percent, Peshawar 25 percent and Lahore 34 percent. The maximum Oxygen beds (alternate oxygen providing facility other than ventilator administered as per medical requirement of COVID patient) was also occupied in Four major areas of Gujrat 51 percent, Peshawar 44 percent, ICT 37 percent and Lahore 31 percent.
Around 247 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country while no COVID affected person was on ventilator in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and Balochistan. Some 40,564 tests were conducted across the country on Saturday, including 8,695 in Sindh, 16,071 in Punjab, 7,462 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 6,734 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 501 in Balochistan, 311 in GB, and 790 in AJK.
Around 570,571 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan making it a significant count with over 90 percent recovery ratio of the affected patients. Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 605,200 cases were detected that also included the perished, recovered and under treatment COVID-19 patients so far, including AJK 10,952, Balochistan 19,206, GB 4,960, ICT 47,710, KP 75,725, Punjab 185,468 and Sindh 261,179. About 13,508 deaths were recorded in country since the eruption of the contagion. Around 4,453 perished in Sindh where no death occured during past 24 hours.
5,753 in Punjab had died with 21 deaths occured in past 24 hours. 20 of them in the hospital and one out of the hospital. 2,153 in KP where six of them died in hospital on Saturday, 524 in ICT among two of them died in the hospital on Saturday, 202 in Balochistan, 103 in GB and 320 in AJK among three of them succumbed to the deadly virus in the hospital on Saturday. A total of 9,485,702 corona tests have been conducted so far, while 631 hospitals are equipped with COVID facilities. Some 2,301 corona patients were admitted in hospitals across the country.
