Pakistan’s Covid-19 situation worsens, authorities say all parameters in the red

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said in a statement Pakistan’s positivity ratio had risen for the fifth consecutive day -- average positivity rate is 40 per cent higher during the last four days -- and that Covid-19 deaths were also increasing.

Authorities in Pakistan have said the coronavirus pandemic situation in the country has worsened with rising positivity rate, a spike in Covid-19 deaths and increasing hospital admissions, according to reports on Friday. Officials of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) made the comments two days after issuing a warning about the lockdown and calling for better compliance with standard operating procedures (SOPs) related to the coronavirus disease.

Students wearing masks walk through a street to their school in Pakistan’s Peshawar in this file photo. National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said the positivity ratio had risen for the fifth consecutive day and that Covid-19 deaths were also increasing. (AFP Photo)

According to Dawn, the forum said in a statement that the positivity ratio had risen for the fifth consecutive day -- average positivity rate is 40 per cent higher during the last four days -- and that Covid-19 deaths were also increasing.

“It was also noted that Muzaffarabad, Hyderabad, Karachi and Gilgit-Baltistan have a higher positivity ratio along with other areas across the country,” Dawn said quoting the statement.

The statement said hospital admissions are also on the increase particularly in Punjab and there is also an increase in the number of critical patients at hospitals. “The death ratio in Punjab was 1.6 on September 1 and has now gone up to six. Meanwhile, the province’s positivity ratio has increased from 0.92 to 1.33,” the statement said.

An analysis of the fatality rate showed that Pakistan’s figure stood at 2.06% as compared to the global 2.72%. “[In Pakistan] Men account for 71pc of the total deaths. Of these, 76pc are over the age of 50,” NCOC said.

According to data collected by Dawn.com, Punjab and Islamabad have reported more than 100 cases for the past four days. Punjab has also seen an increase in the number of deaths during the past few days.

NCOC had warned on Wednesday that it would close down services across the country once again if people continued to flout SOPs issued to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease. “NCOC is closely monitoring the situation. If there is no improvement in SOPs compliance observed, NCOC will have no choice but to revert to strict measures leading to re-closures of services,” NCOC had said in a statement that day.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan had said earlier in the week that he feared a second wave of Covid-19 in the coming months in cities where pollution levels are high. “I fear that in these two months — October and November [...] cities like Faisalabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Gujranwala where there is more pollution [...] there might be a second spike in coronavirus cases. The cases are rising gradually and we hope that they don’t increase quickly; we are monitoring it,” he told participants at an award ceremony.

Pakistan has 324,744 cases of coronavirus disease and 6,692 people have succumbed.