ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), which synergizes government efforts against COVID-19, has expressed “serious concern” over the rising positivity ratio of the disease in the country.
“A sharp rise in national positivity (ratio) is visible and is hovering around 5-6%. Rising disease trend was a matter of serious concern,” the NCOC said on Saturday after a special session to review the latest trends of the outbreak.
The nearly six percent rise follows a drop in Pakistan’s coronavirus positivity ratio to almost three percent in January.
The NCOC also urged all federating units to take immediate actions and follow restrictions to curb the pandemic, dubbed as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
As of Sunday, 2,664 people had tested positive for COVID-19, with 32 deaths reported in the past 24 hours, taking the total fatality count to 13,508 since February last year, according to the health ministry.
“Further curbs on international travel from certain countries with a high prevalence of South African and Brazilian virus were considered,” the NCOC said while discussing the spread of new virus strains in the country.
Pakistan has also extended the duration for restrictions imposed on inbound flights, which will remain in place until March 18, according to a statement by the Civil Aviation Authority.
