LAHORE: Out of 13,754 tests conducted during the last 24 hours, Punjab has reported 658 fresh Covid-19 cases and 10 deaths taking the provincial tally of fresh cases to 112,284 and fatalities to 2519.

With recovery of 22 more infected persons, the total number of recovered patients has reached to 97,846. With recovery of another 886 people from coronavirus in Pakistan, the country's total recoveries have reached to 326,674. According to the government's database on the coronavirus, 1,535 patients are in critical condition.

As per data about age distribution of Covid-19 cases in Punjab, the people with age group of 21-30 are worst hit with 26192 cases followed by the people of age bracket of 31-40 years with 24,775 cases. There are 16,815 cases of the people of 41-50 years, 14898 cases are of age group of 51-60 years, 9,328 of 61-70 years, 4342 of above 70 years and 2,837 cases are of age group of 1-10 years.

Lahore has so far reported 5,5784 cases, Rawalpindi 9692 cases, Multan 7,471 cases, Faisalabad 6,428 cases, Gujranwala 4,113 cases, Gujrat 3,242 cases, Sialkot 2681 cases and Bahawalpur has reported 2,412 cases.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid in a briefing said, "We are committed to battle the second wave of Corona; however, the people must follow SOPs and maintain social distancing." She added that infection rate can be reduced up to 70% by wearing masks.

Secretary Primary Health Punjab told the Cabinet Committee on Covid-19 that the rate of new cases and deaths of Corona was gradually increasing across the province while the rate of new cases in Punjab was now more than 5% which is equal to that during it was in June this year.

In the briefing, it was informed that corona tests were being conducted in the schools which showed that the number of positive cases was steadily increasing with 590 new cases reported so far.

Provincial Minister for Law and Social Welfare Raja Basharat said that appreciation and support of government measures against Corona by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) is very encouraging. He directed that the ongoing plan of action be re-formulated for the prevention of Corona in Punjab as per the directions of IHC and National Command Operation Centre (NCOC). "The instructions regarding marriage halls in particular should be strictly followed."

Punjab Minister for Health proposed to close the educational institutions after November 23, while the Minister of Higher Education said that only the closure of high risk educational institutions should be considered.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020

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