As more than 61% of the patients who contracted novel coronavirus across the country have fully recovered, and there’s a decline in the number of tests as well as occupancy of ventilators, the Pakistan government has urged the people to continue taking
precautionary measures.
Of the total 248,135 cases reported till the late hours of Saturday evening, 153,134 (61.7%) patients have already recovered, indicating that active cases have dropped to 95,001 (38.2).
Over the past 24 hours, the country reported 2,670 new cases and 64 deaths, taking the national tally to 248,135 cases and fatalities to 5,170.
Noting that all the trends of Covid-19 were declining, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar tweeted that on June 20, there were 2,969 patients on oxygenated beds and 546 on ventilators.
“The number has been reduced due to which now there are 1,762 patients on oxygenated beds and 394 on ventilators, which shows a 28% reduction in number,” he said.
Asad said this happened due to the smart lockdown policy of the government and enforcement of the standard operating procedures (SOPs).
However, he added that collective efforts of the people were needed to contain the virus by following the SOPs. “This way both the life and livelihoods of the people would remain safe,” he said.
According to an international website, currently Pakistan is ranked 12th in terms of most number of cases, while the US is on the top with 3.3mn cases, Brazil on the second with 1.8m cases and India third with almost 850,000 cases.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19, there are only 394 patients on ventilators and 1,174 ventilators were vacant as overall 1,568 ventilators have been allocated for Covid-19 patients across the country.
On Friday, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Zafar Mirza, who has gone into isolation after contracting the virus, tweeted: “We are fast approaching a major challenge in Eid al-Adha. As a nation we have to take a collective responsibility. If we don’t, we may cause another spike in Covid-19 cases.”
The Covid-19 testing facility that had been enhanced with the conduct of up to 32,000 tests per day during the month of June witnessed a drop in the number of tests per day in recent weeks.
On June 20, as many as 28,855 tests were conducted across the country. The number of tests dropped to 21,935 on June 24 and to 21,033 on June 26, while it slightly increased to 23,092 on July 2 and further to 23,569
on July 10.
During these three weeks, the country reported a reduction in number of daily cases.
Earlier in April, a controversy over number of tests and government’s alleged move to artificially flatten the curve was triggered with a statement of Pakistan Peoples’ Party central information secretary Nafisa Shah, whose party rules in Sindh.
She alleged that the move to reduce number of tests, apart from Sindh, was intended to ‘artificially flatten the curve’ and giving a false sense of security to the people of other provinces.
Commuters turn around with their vehicles on a road blocked in a sealed area by authorities in Rawalpindi as Covid-19 coronavirus cases continue to rise in Pakistan.
