| Welcome to Global Village Space

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pakistan’s daily COVID-19 cases increase sharply as transport opens

Early celebration of achieving low cases causes a sharp increase in Pakistan's daily COVID-19 cases.

Just a day after relaxation in restrictions, Pakistan’s daily coronavirus cases jumped over 3,000 on Monday, signaling another rise in the ongoing third wave of the pandemic.

The South Asian country recorded 3,232 cases over the past 24 hours, compared to 2,379 and 1,531 infections on Sunday and Saturday, respectively.

The government on Sunday allowed the reopening of inter-provincial and inter-city transport, which has remained shut for a week during the Eid holiday — the Muslim festival that heralds the end of the holy month of Ramadan — from May 9 to 15.

The deaths due to the virus rose by 74, reaching 19,617, according to the Health Ministry.

The South Asian country’s total caseload stands at 880,362, with 792,522 recoveries, while the tally of active cases is 68,223.

The government has also allowed the reopening of all government and private offices with 50% attendance from Monday.

Educational institutions to remain closed

Notably, the NOCO announced last week all educational institutions — schools, colleges, universities, and others — will remain closed till May 23.

The NCOC said a meeting to review the decision would be held on May 18 and the decision to reopen the educational institutions would be taken after taking into account the coronavirus situation at the time.

The decision came after NCOC held a session today to review the coronavirus situation in the country.

Read more: Why Pakistan is at grave risk? Explains world’s best COVID expert

The government has in the past few days tightened restrictions already imposed in light of the coronavirus situation, as the country continues to register thousands of COVID-19 cases daily, with hundreds dying from the infection every day.

Amid the worsening situation, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood, on April 27, had announced that as per NCOC’s recommendations, all board exams have been postponed till June 15.

Mehmood said that from April 18 (when the last meeting of the education ministry was held) until now, the number of coronavirus cases has rapidly risen, therefore, the government has decided to postpone all exams until June 15.

Read more: Is government solely relying on gifts and donations for COVID-19 vaccines?

He said the country seems to be headed towards a complete lockdown in areas witnessing particularly high positivity ratios. “Exams of 9, 10, 11 and 12, which were supposed to begin from the end of May, have been delayed further,” the minister said. “No board exams will be held till mid-June (June 15).”

Anadolu with additional input by GVS News Desk