Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Confirmed cases in Pakistan climbed to 255,056 after 1,979 new infections were recorded in the country in the last 24 hours, data from the National Command and Control Centre showed on Tuesday.
According to the NCOC, there are 107,773 cases in Sindh, 87,492 in Punjab, 31,001 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11,239 in Balochistan, 14,202 in Islamabad, 1,694 Gilgit-Baltistan and 1,655 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
The country also recorded 50 fatalities taking the death toll to 5,366.
Smart lockdown imposed to curb the spread of Covid-19 has been extended for another 15 days till July 30 in Punjab, read a notification issued on Tuesday.
Educational institutions, wedding halls, restaurants and cinema houses among other public places across the province will remain closed during the lockdown.
The education department and schools in the province will reopen for administrative staff and teachers from today, July 15.
Punjab health authorities reported 449 new cases, taking the provincial tally to 87,492. The virus claimed 13 more lives as Punjab’s death toll stands at 2,026.
In another development, the Covid-19 tests carried out by the Punjab government to detect the virus in suspected patients have been reduced by 60 per cent.
Punjab Secretary for Primary Healthcare Muhammad Usman said that government was only testing those patients who have Covid-19 symptoms. He said that from the last few days, the number of critical virus patients in province has decreased significantly.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government decided to allow schools to reopen following approval from the National Command and Operations Centre.
Employees of the Elementary and Secondary Education Department and staff of schools will be asked to ensure that cleanliness and anti-coronavirus measures are implemented.
With 1,151 new cases recorded in a day, Sindh’s provincial tally reached 107,773 on Tuesday. As per Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah’s daily briefing, 37 more people succumbed to the virus. This took the province’s total deaht toll to 1,863.
With 114 new cases of coronavirus reported amongst Sindh Police officials in the last two days, the number of infected police personnel in the province rose to 2,210.
A police spokesperson stated that 16 officials had succumbed to the virus so far, while 1,608 are undergoing treatment and 586 have recovered from the disease. He added that the infected officials were receiving good care.
The novel coronavirus has infected 26 more people in Gilgit-Baltistan, bringing the total number of infections to 1,697. According to G-B health department, 51 patients have also recovered from the respiratory disease.
