Coronavirus cases cross 60,000, death toll climbs to 1,239

ISLAMABAD: Coronavirus cases in Pakistan crossed the 60,000 mark on Wednesday while the death toll climbed to 1,239.

21,118 cases have so far been detected in Punjab, 24,206 in Sindh, 8,483 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 3,536 in Balochistan, 1,879 in Islamabad, 638 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), and 214 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

So far 19,142 patients have recovered from the deadly virus, while 39,693 are still under treatment.

As per the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Pakistan has so far conducted 499,399 coronavirus tests and 8,491 during the last 24 hours.

A day earlier, the number of coronavirus infections continued to spike amid violations of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) owing to Eid, the federal government had warned that it would have to re-impose the lockdown to contain the cases.

The warning came weeks after the government had started phase-wise easing of the nation-wide lockdown earlier this month, citing economic fallout of a prolonged quarantine.

Addressing a press conference, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza had said that the government would reimpose the national quarantine “if the current trajectory of the virus continues”.

Lamenting that the government’s instructions and SOPs were not being followed, Mirza had said, “As we promised when we eased the lockdown if this trend continues, we may reimpose strict lockdowns after Eid.”

He had observed that apparently there was a perception that the threat of the pandemic was over. “Unfortunately, there is now this thinking among us that this disease was only here till Eid and that somehow it will disappear after Eid. This is a huge misunderstanding,” he had said.

Mirza had announced that the government would assess the situation before making a final decision on the fate of the lockdown.

Last week, the Supreme Court (SC) had ordered the federal government to reopen shopping malls across the country while declaring that “apparently is not a pandemic in Pakistan”. The apex court had also directed the authorities to allow markets to remain open on Saturday and Sunday as well, contrary to the government’s original plan in which markets were only open four days a week.