KARACHI – Federal Minister for Information Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Saturday appreciated PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz for postponing her tour to Karachi due to rising trend of coronavirus cases in the country.
Maryam was scheduled to visit the port city to take part in the election campaign of PML-N candidate Miftah Ismail for by-elections on a National Assembly seat (NA-249) in Karachi.
The by-poll in the constituency is scheduled for April 29 and the campaign in the constituency will culminate at midnight of 27 and 28 April.
The information minister has termed it a positive development, adding that all political parties need to play their role in this situation.
He highlighted that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s election campaign added fuel to the deepening health crisis.
He also urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to introduce standard operation procedures (SOPs) for polling as the prevailing situation did not support the traditional way of voting in the country.
Fawad further said that urban centres are hotspot areas for the spread of the COVID-19, adding that strict implementation of SOPs must to curtail the spread of the virus.
The PTI leader said that Pakistan has reached 90 per cent capacity of its total oxygen, besides warning of complete lockdown in certain cities if situation does not improve in a week.
He also urged ulema to ensure that gatherings for Taraweeh are held as per the SOPs.
Pakistan Records Highest Single Day Death Toll
Pakistan recorded 157 deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday, the highest death toll in the country since the coronavirus pandemic started last year.
Previously, on June 20th of last year, the country’s peak death toll was 153.
The recent deaths bring the total number of deaths in the country to 16,999. Punjab had the most deaths in the country in the last 24 hours, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Pakistan’s national positivity rate, on the other hand, increased to 11.27 percent on Saturday.
According to data from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 52,402 tests were conducted in Pakistan in the last 24 hours, with 5,908 of them returning positive.
The latest cases bring the total number of positive cases in Pakistan to 790,016. Punjab has 285,542 cases, Sindh has 276,670, KPK has 112,140, Islamabad has 72,613, Balochistan has 21,477, Azad Jammu and Kashmir has 16,327, and Gilgit Baltistan has 5,247.
