Daily Times

The total active Covid-19 cases in the country on Friday were recorded at 33,562 as 2,738 more people tested positive for the deadly virus during the last 24 hours.

A total 36 patients lost their lives, out of them 32 in hospitals while four died out of hospital due to Covid-19, according to the latest update issued by the National command and Operation Centre (NCOC). No Covid-affected person was on ventilator in Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir(AJK), while 230 ventilators elsewhere in Pakistan were occupied, out of 1,793 allocated for Covid-19 patients.

Some 42,909 tests were conducted across the country during last 24 hours, including 14,470 in Sindh, 16,297 in Punjab, 4,269 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 6,153 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 704 in Balochistan, 198 in Gilgit Baltistan (GB), and 818 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Around 327,542 people have recovered from the disease so far across the country making it a significant count. Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 368,665 cases were detected so far, including AJK 5,806, Balochistan 16,642, GB 4,494, ICT 25,719, KP 43,359, Punjab 112, 893 and Sindh 159,752.

About 7,561 deaths were recorded in country since the eruption of the contagion, including 2,780 in Sindh, 12 of them died in hospital and four out of hospital on Thursday, while 2,811 in Punjab, 15 of them died in hospital, 1,319 in KP with one died in hospital on Thursday, 266 in ICT, one died in hospital on Thursday, 158 in Balochistan, 93 in GB and 134 in AJK two of them died in hospital on Thursday.

It is pertinent to mention here that so far around 5,098,291 tests had been conducted, while 770 hospitals allocated with COVID facilities with 2, 018 patients admitted across the country.

In the wake of preventing the spread of coronavirus, Punjab government on Friday has put a ban on holding wedding ceremonies at the marriage halls across the province. According to details, the owners of marriage halls have been barred from arranging indoor events from November 20 to January 31.

The notification issued by the local government further allowed to hold outdoor ceremonies with maximum capacity of 300 people.

The decision was taken after Pakistan reported 36 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 368,665. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 7,561.

Special Assistant to the PM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan on Friday said that government has taken timely and proportionate steps to deal with the second wave of coronavirus pandemic to protect people’s health, as well as implemented measures to mitigate the negative economic impacts of the pandemic.

Talking to a private news channel, he warned that the country could be at risk of a second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak if residents do not adhere to the strict precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus. He explained the further steps to control the disease that the NCOC has proposed restrictions on large-scale public gatherings and issued fresh guidelines for marriage halls after the country saw a rise in Covid-19 infections in recent weeks. He said public gatherings and marriage halls, which were reopened on Sept 15, are hotspots for the spread of coronavirus, adding, these gatherings should ideally not take place at all, but if unavoidable, must be organized with strict compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Faisal Sultan said public safety was of utmost top priority of government and the success of efforts made against Covid-19 would not be allowed to go to waste.