ISLAMABAD – The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday deliberated upon proposed lockdown in cities with high ratio of novel coronavirus cases.
The lockdown was discussed in a meeting of the NCOC chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar flanked by National Coordinator NCOC.
The forum is of the view that lockdown will be imposed after having consultation with all stakeholders if situation continues to deteriorate in the cities.
It added that the purpose of lockdowns would be to control the spread of the virus through implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs).
The NCOC said that the proposed restrictions would include closure of markets and shopping malls and ban on intercity public transport.
It said that assistance of army, FC and Rangers will be provided to provincial governments on their request.
The Forum also decided to extend two days inter provincial transport ban (on Saturday and Sunday) till 17th May 2021.
It was also decided to allow walk-in facility to administer coronavirus vaccine to 60 years plus aged citizens.
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.
