ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday reported 157 people had died in the country in 24 hours, marking its highest single-day death toll since the pandemic began early last year. Previously, the highest mortality figure in a single day was 153 and was reached during the peak of Pakistan’s first coronavirus wave on June 20.
On Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan ruled out an immediate lockdown anywhere in the country, and said Pakistan was deploying its army to help civilian law enforcement agencies implement coronavirus health safety measures to stem the spread of the disease. He said the country was trying to procure more vaccines despite a shortage in the global market.
The announcement came after Khan met officials for a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on COVID-19 to devise government policy to tackle rising infection numbers.
Saturday’s death count has taken the country’s fatality tally to 16,999 with the highest deaths in the country reported in its most populous eastern province, Punjab, followed by northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Khan also warned the country could face the same situation as India in the next two weeks if rules were not followed. Across the border, India reported the world’s highest daily tally of coronavirus cases for the second day in a row on Friday, surpassing 330,000 new cases amid a nationwide shortage of oxygen supplies.
Planning Minister Asad Umar, who heads the NCC that formulates policy on COVID-19, said Pakistan was utilizing 90 percent of its oxygen capacity, of which 75 to 80 percent was being used by the health sector.
Earlier in the week, he said that if Pakistan did not begin seriously implementing its SOP’s, the government would have no other choice but to impose a lockdown.
