ISLAMABAD, Apr 16 (APP):Prime Minister’s Focal Person on Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dr Faisal Sultan on Thursday advised the citizens to strictly follow the social distancing and other precautionary measures to stop increasing local transmission of COVID-19 in the country.
Dr Faisal Sultan, in a televised briefing on COVID-19, said still there were threats of spread of the disease and asked the citizens should continue implementing protective measures as per health officials’ directions to stem the increase in coronavirus cases.
He said the government was taking effective and prompt measures, and assured that joint efforts would be made against coronavirus. The government had provided disease diagnostic facilities at 41 laboratories in various cities.
He said 6,775 people were still in various quarantine centers while 70 % of total confirmed coronavirus cases were male and 85% were above 55 years of age. During the last 24 hours, 199 patients had recovered, he added.
Dr Faisal Sultan said the government had tried its level best to control the disease. The Federal Government had prepared standard operating procedures (SOPs), which had also been shared for their implementation at different levels.
Meanwhile, as per the data shared by an official of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), total 128 deaths had been reported in the country so far while 1,645 patients had recovered.
He said that the confirmed patients load reached at 6,919 with 414 new cases during the last 24 hours, including 3,291 from Punjab, 2,008 from Sindh, 912 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 145 from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 46 from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and 237 from Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
He said total 34 deaths were reported from Punjab, 45 from Sindh, 42 from KP, three from GB, one from Islamabad and three from Balochistan. About 560 patients had recovered in Sindh, 191 in KP, 140 in Balochistan, 178 in GB, 550 in Punjab and 17 in ICT.