14 deaths reported across country: Zafar

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Services Dr Zafar Mirza on Sunday warned the nation to be extra vigilant as the last 24 hours proved quite heavy after 14 deaths were reported across the country due to Covid-19 pandemic and the rise in local transmission of the virus.

Speaking at a news conference after a high level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Special Assistant said that meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) will be held today (Monday) to be chaired by the Prime Minister in which important decisions regarding the next strategy will be announced.

He said the high-level discussed the overall situation of the country with respect to coronavirus. The meeting was attended by Federal Ministers including Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Asad Omar, Ijaz Ahmed Shah, Omar Ayub, Hamad Azhar, Syed Fakhr Imam, Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razzaq Dawood, Special Assistants including Dr Moed Yousuf, Dr Zafar Mirza, Shahzad Akbar and Tania Addrees, Focal Person for Covid-19 Dr. Faisal, Chairman NDMA Let Gen Mohammad Afzal and others. The chief ministers of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa attended the meeting via video link.

Giving updates on the Covid-19 situations, Dr Zafar Mirza said that the last 24 hours remained quite heavy as 14 deaths were reported in the country, adding that he had been indicating that the death ratio can increase in coming days.

"We are also informing our people time and again to keep social distancing and follow the pre-emptive measures strictly otherwise the situation can turn even worse," her warned, adding that people are strictly advised to follow social distancing and other important measures in order to contain the virus. He further warned that the situation can get out of control if the people did pay heed to the measures announced by the government.

He said 254 new cases were reported in last 24 hours with overall confirmed cases now reached to 5038, adding that almost half of these cases are due to local transmission.

The Special Assistant said 1026 people have recovered completely in the country, while 1414 are hospitalized, with 37 in critical condition. He said that previously there were 50 critical cases of which 14 lost their lives in the past 24 hours.

Dr Zafar Mirza said coronavirus has so far claimed more than 100,000 people worldwide with more than 1.7 million cases. He pointed out that mortality rate globally is 6.1 percent while in Pakistan it is 1.7 percent.

He said that President Dr Arif Alvi visited Gilgit-Baltistan on Sunday and took briefing on prevalent situation in the context of coronavirus outbreak.

He said that the President was apprised that 146 persons have totally been recovered in the area while 57 are close to recovery.

The special assistant further said that 2,000 returnees from Iran were quarantined in an efficient manner with all facilities provided to them. He said that only three deaths have been reported in Gilgit-Baltistan so far.

He also stated that there have been reports of misuse of protective clothing and N-95 masks by ordinary people, adding that the frontline health workers are most eligible for these masks and other people should avoid using these.

He said National Command and Operation Centre will issue a video to disseminate public information regarding the precautionary measures.