Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Pakistan’s coronavirus cases can surge to 200,000 by mid-July if “effective measures” are not taken to curb the infection, said the World Health Organisation on Thursday.
This was stated by Dr Tedros Adhanom, Director-General WHO at the launch of the Pakistan National Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan virtual conference.
He said that the required funding for the plan was $595m which would be allocated to support various measures.
Meanwhile, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan rose to 10,982 on Thursday morning after new infections were confirmed from different parts of the country.
Another 181 recoveries from the novel coronavirus were reported during the past 24 hours, according to the National Command and Operations Centre that is tracking the spread of the disease in the country. The number of deaths from the virus also increased to 230 after eight more died from virus-related causes in Balochistan and Sindh.
The province-wise tally of Covid-19 patients stands at 4,706 cases in Punjab, 3,671 in Sindh, 1,453 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 607 in Balochistan, 290 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 204 in Islamabad and 51 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Punjab’s Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department has reported 116 new coronavirus cases in the province, taking the provincial tally to 4,706.
Punjab on Thursday reported 116 cases of the virus to taking the provincial tally to 4,706. Some 38 doctors, 12 from Dera Ghazi Khan and 26 from Multan’s Nishtar Hospital, have recovered from coronavirus, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has confirmed.
He stated that the doctors’ test reports had come in negative twice. Buzdar also announced that from April onwards doctors will receive double salaries.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said four more persons succumbed to the virus as the province’s death toll reached 73. Another 15 recoveries from the novel coronavirus were reported in Sindh during the past 24 hours, taking the provincial tally to 730. Police in Karachi have relaxed the snap checking points in the city to ease the flow of traffic in the metropolis. The points have also been relaxed or removed after the lockdown measures were eased in the country.