ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider announced on Sunday that the region is going to lock down again amid a spike in coronavirus infections.
The decision comes as in the first days of October the territory saw new cases hitting the double digits, with 40 new infections reported on Saturday alone. Since the beginning of the outbreak in February, AJK recorded a total of 2,816 infections.
Local media reported that as the basis for the lockdown Haider cited a surge in the territory's coronavirus positivity rate to 8.3 percent — higher than in other areas of Pakistan.
Haider said in a Twitter post on Sunday afternoon that he had instructed AJK authorities to draft a lockdown policy within two days.
آج ہم نےریاست بھرمیں دوبارہ لاک ڈاون کافیصلہ کیاہے۔میں نےحکام کوھدایت کی ہیکہ وہ اس حوالےسےاندر2یوم جزئیات طےکریں۔یادرکھیےجہاں دنیا کی بڑی بڑی معیشیتیں کروناکامقابلہ نہیں کرسکیں وہاں محدود وسائل کیساتھ ہماری کیابساط ہے۔قبل اسکے کہ حالات بےقابوہوجائیں ہمیں سخت اقدامات اٹھانےہونگے۔
— Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan (@farooq_pm) October 4, 2020
Coronavirus cases are surging across Pakistan, as health experts fear a second wave of coronavirus is coming. The country had reported 314,616 coronavirus cases as of Sunday morning, with at least 632 in the past 24 hours.
"Since the numbers are increasing after substantial decrease, it could be a second wave of coronavirus," Dr. Qaiser Sajjad, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), told Arab News.
If strict measures are not taken, the situation would "go out of control," Dr. Sajjad warned, adding that authorities were responsible to ensure that health measures and standard procedures (SOPs) are implemented.
Also Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday appealed to the public to use face masks to avoid a spike in infections, which may come with winter.
"There is a fear onset of winter could result in 2nd wave," he said in a Twitter post.
Compared to some other states, Allah has been kind to us in Pak & spared us worst effects of COVID-19. There is a fear onset of winter could result in 2nd wave. I urge everyone to wear face masks in public to avoid a spike. All offices & ed institutions must ensure masks are worn
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) October 4, 2020
In the past few days, authorities across the country have sealed restaurants, schools, wedding halls, and imposed "smart lockdowns" to stop the virus spread.
In Islamabad, 26 shops, five hotels and six schools have been shut as of Saturday over violation of standard operating procedures and detection of COVID-19 cases among students and staff.
In Karachi, the largest city of Sindh — a province where most of the country's new cases and a third of total infections have been recorded — authorities have imposed "micro but strict lockdowns" in clusters where five or more cases have been reported, Karachi Commissioner Dr. Muhammad Sohail Rajput told Arab News.
“Lockdown will be imposed in more areas in the light of data we will receive,” he said.
