-Pakistan reports over 2,200 fresh cases for 2nd straight day
-Markets to close at 6pm as Punjab reimposes restrictions
-National Covid infections tally crosses 600,000
By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health, Dr Faisal Sultan on Friday confirmed that the third wave of coronavirus has started in Pakistan.
There is no doubt that the third wave has started as the big cities of Punjab are recording flux of Covid-19, Faisal Sultan said in his statement. The new coronavirus strain is affecting countries across the world, the SAPM said and added that it spreads rapidly.
He appealed to the masses to continue following the standard operating procedures (SOPs) designed to counter the spread of the coronavirus.
Earlier on Thursday, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Thursday said that the third wave of the coronavirus has started in the country. Speaking to a private TV, Umar, who is heading Pakistan’s response to the coronavirus, said there was “no doubt” that the third wave had started and cited the spread of the coronavirus variant from the United Kingdom as the reason behind it.
“The phenomenon that is driving [the third wave] is the spread of the UK strain.” He said that when the government looked at districts where a higher number of cases were reported, it found that these were areas where a large population of Pakistanis residing in Britain lived.
“We asked NIH (National Institute of Health) to do genome sequencing and first we saw [the UK strain] in areas in north Pakistan, including Islamabad. After that, we also did [genome sequencing] for the rest of the country. “The dominant strain at this time is the UK strain,” he added. Curbs in Punjab: Amid rising coronavirus cases, the Punjab government has decided that markets in seven districts of the province with the highest ratio of cases will close at 6pm.
The decision was made by Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Usman Buzdar in light of the number of cases being reported in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sargodha. “Educational institutions, parks, indoor ceremonies, Mazars will remain close for 15 days,” Buzdar tweeted.
The decisions were taken during a meeting of the cabinet committee on combating coronavirus threat convened by Usman Buzdar to review the pandemic situation in the wake of the National Command and Operation Centre’s (NCOC) decision to re-impose restrictions due to a surge in infections.
COVID Situation: Pakistan has recorded 54 more coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 13,430.
According to the latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) released on Friday, the COVID-19 has claimed 54 more lives and 2,701 fresh infections were reported during the said period. The total count of active cases is 18,703 and the positivity rate increases up to 6.56 per cent.
