STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD The government has decided to extend the ongoing lockdown for another two weeks until April 14 to contain the spread of novel coronavirus in the country. This was announced by Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, flanked by PM’s aide on health Dr Zafar Mirza and on national security Moeed Yusuf, at a news conference after attending the meeting of National Coordination Committee (NCC) on COVID-19, held in Islamabad on Wednesday. Umar said the forum will soon meet again to decide whether to relax or increase the restrictions. The planing minister said that stranded overseas Pakistanis will be brought back to the country in a special PIA flight on April 4. The passengers will be first tested and sent for quarantine to ensure they do not spread the coronavirus, he added. In the first stage, Umar said, the international flights will resume from Islamabad airport followed by Karachi. “Lockdown throughout the country is bearing fruit as number of cases would have been much higher if containment steps were not taken in a timely manner,” he said. Dr Mirza, speaking on the occasion, outlined the number of cases, deaths and number of citizens tested for COVID-19 so far since the outbreak. The nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients has crossed 2,141 figure with 709 cases in Sindh, 748 in Punjab, 164 in Balochistan, 276 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 184 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 54 in Islamabad and six in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.The virus has so far claimed 29 lives in Pakistan, while over 80 Covid-19 patients have fully recovered.SAPM Dr Zafar Mirza said on Wednesday that 21 per cent of the infected people have recovered completely. In the past 24 hours, 24 people have tested negative for the novel coronavirus after being infected by it before. The total number of recovered people is 82. Sindh’s Minister for Health and Population Welfare Dr Azra Pechuho has confirmed one more death from coronavirus, taking the total tally of Covid-19 deaths in the province to nine. Dr Pechuho said that the 59- year-old patient was a resident of Karachi and was brought to the hospital on March 19 after his return from Saudi Arabia. He tested positive the same day. Karachi has detected 33 new coronavirus cases, all of them locally transmitted, Meeran Yousuf, media coordinator to the health and population welfare minister, said. The total number of cases in Sindh is now 709. Sindh police arrested 151 people for violating Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. According to the police, the arrested persons were found violating the restrictions imposed by the Sindh government during lockdown and hoarding of masks and sanitisers. About 14 people were detained in Karachi and Hyderabad each, nine arrests were made in Mirpurkhas, 60 in Sukkur and 54 in Larkana range. The minister added that the patient had a history of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome and was on ventilator since the first day. Balochistan reported six new cases of the coronavirus, a spokesperson for the provincial health directorate’s coronavirus cell has confirmed. This takes the provincial total to 164 and the national tally to 2,118. Adviser to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Information Ajmal Wazir said that 121 pilgrims who had been under quarantine at Gomal Medical College in Dera Ismail Khan will leave for their homes today. He added that the pilgrims have completed the quarantine period and have tested negative for Covid-19.
