Pakistan has lowest deaths per million from Covid in region: Umar

Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said that although Pakistan has the lowest deaths-per-million of population compared to other countries, the risk of the novel coronavirus is not over.

In a tweet on Saturday, the minister said that coronavirus deaths per million in Pakistan is 102, which is the lowest when compared with Iran (1,037), Nepal (326), India (301), Sri Lanka (186), Afghanistan (160) and Bangladesh (113).

"Timely decisions, hard work, cooperation of people & blessings of Allah made this possible. Risk is not over. Follow sop's & vaccinate," the minister tweeted.

Meanwhile, the country's coronavirus tally crossed the grim 1-million figure on Friday. Pakistan reported the grim milestone exactly two months after its tally of positive cases crossed 900,000.

During the last 24 hours, 37,636 tests were conducted across the country. Of these, 1,841 came out positive, taking the total number to 1,001,875. This is the second consecutive day that Pakistan has reported less than 2,000 cases. For more than a week, Pakistan had been reporting more than 2,000 daily Covid-19 cases.

The national Covid-19 positivity ratio was recorded at 4.89%. Overall, there are 2,551 critical cases and 54,122 active cases in Pakistan.

Sindh reimposes restrictions as Covid-19 cases surge

As per the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 1,310 people recovered from the virus in 24 hours, taking the total number to 924,782. The virus claimed 32 more lives, taking the death toll to 22,971.

With the spread of the coronavirus Delta variant, the situation in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, has been alarming as public and some private sector hospitals are reaching capacity.

On Friday, the Sindh government reimposed coronavirus restrictions in order to curb the spread of the virus. The Coronavirus Task Force, chaired by Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, decided that from July 26 (Monday) shopping malls and markets will only be allowed to open till 6:00 pm.

However, grocery stores, pharmacies and bakeries will be allowed to operate 24/7.

Pakistan eases Covid restrictions, allows partial resumption of indoor dining

It was also decided that from next week wedding halls, restaurants and schools will be closed. Only takeaways will be allowed. Shrines will also be closed once again, the task force decided.

Moreover, public and private offices will only be allowed 50 percent of employees, the meeting decided. The rest will work from home.