ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday raised the alarm as the Covid-19 positivity rate crossed seven per cent during the last 24 hours.
According to the NCOC data, 35,303 tests were conducted in the country in the last 24 hours out of which 2,511 returned as positive taking the positivity ratio to 7.1 per cent.
The positivity ratio in the federal capital has reached 7.7 per cent, the district health officer (DH) said. The DHO added that 414 cases came out positive.
The new positive cases take the national total of coronavirus positive cases to 609,964. The NCOC said out of total cases, 11,089 have been reported in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), 19,233 in Balochistan, 4,961 in Gilgit Baltistan, 48,495 in Islamabad, 76,379 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 188,225 in Punjab, and 261,582 in Sindh. Total active coronavirus cases in Pakistan stands at 23,355.
The central body dealing with the coronavirus pandemic said that the country also lost 58 people to the deadly virus in the last 24 hours with the most deaths occurring in Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The new deaths take the national tally of coronavirus deaths to 13,595.
The breakdown showed that 4,461 patients have died in Sindh, 5,812 in Punjab, 2,169 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 526 in Islamabad, 202 in Balochistan, 103 in Gilgit Baltistan (GB), 322 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has decided to close schools in nine districts of the province due to a surge in coronavirus cases. The decision was taken in a meeting of the Task Force on Covid-19 in Peshawar on Tuesday. The districts include Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi, Nowshera, Kohat, Malakand, Swat and Lower Dir.
It has been decided to form a committee comprising members of the KP cabinet ahead of the expected closure of markets. The committee members include Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra, Shaukat Yousafzai and Kamran Bangash.
The meeting decided to shut academic sessions at schools if the positivity rate of Covid-19 cases rises above 10 per cent. During the briefing, the task force members were told that the current positivity rate of coronavirus cases stands at 1 per cent in southern districts.
The KP task force granted conditional permission to organise Dera Jat Festival and jeep rally. According to the decision, the relevant authorities will shut all programmes in case of any violation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) against Covid-19.
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan appealed to the public and traders’ community to strictly observe corona SOPs contain the spreading of this deadly pandemic. He added that the nation could cope with the challenge of the pandemic by exhibiting responsibility.
