Staff Reporter Islamabad
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, who also heads National Command and Operation Center, has said that next few weeks are critical for Pakistan.
Asad Umar, in a tweet, said that more than a year after coronavirus pandemic started, it continues to devastate globally and daily global cases now exceed 9 lakh, highest since the start of pandemic.
He added that daily global deaths are now exceeding 15,000, nearing the peak of January 2021.
The planning minister while, urging the people to follow SOPs to avoid the spread of Covid-19, said the need for caution remains high.
On the other hand, Pakistan has reported 79 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases surged to 834,146.
Punjab remains the worst-hit province in terms of deaths and cases followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Furthermore 306,929 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Punjab, 286,521 in Sindh, 120,064 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 76,209 in Islamabad, 22,620 in Balochistan, 17,371 in Azad Kashmir and 5,327 in Gilgit-Baltistan. The positivity rate of new cases was recorded at 9.16%, the NCOC said.
It is noteworthy that over four million people have registered themselves for coronavirus vaccination across Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the Sindh High Court announced new Covid-19 restrictions to control the spread of the virus as the country continues to battle its third wave. The restrictions will be applicable till May 22.
The circular, issued on Monday, said that the pre-arrest and post-arrest bail, habeas corpus petitions or detention matters, urgent petition seeking injunctions/stay order involving an imminent threat of irreparable loss, criminal appeals against conviction in which convicted person is still confined in jail and any urgent matter can be fixed in the high court in Karachi and its benches in Sukkur, Hyderabad, and Larkana.
Authorities have been directed to display instructions that only relevant advocates should attend the court at the relevant time when the case is taken up.
