ISLAMABAD: The second coronavirus wave in Pakistan may be more dangerous and lethal, the prime minister’s former special adviser on health warned on Wednesday, as he called opposition rallies “highly irresponsible” in the wake of the outbreak.

Pakistan has seen an uptick in coronavirus cases in the past few weeks as the second viral wave has gained momentum across the South Asian nation of 220 million people. Citing virus concerns on Monday, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced a ban on political rallies, while anti-government protests are scheduled for the coming days.

“COVID19 is surging & can be much more dangerous than the 1st wave which means more deaths of Pakistanis,” Dr. Zafar Mirza said in a Twitter post on Wednesday.

After a peak of over 6,800 daily infections in June, the number fell to a low of 213 in August, and remained below 700 for most of the last three months but from this month again infection is on the rise. The country recorded 2,208 new coronavirus cases and 37 related deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the official infection tally to 363,380.

Dr. Mirza criticized the opposition People’s Democratic Alliance (PDM) for plans to defy the ban on public gatherings and continue with is series of antigovernment protests, saying that he hopes that “sanity would prevail & people’s’ lives will be considered more important than politics.”

https://twitter.com/zfrmrza/status/1328923826449772544?s=20

The antigovernment alliance was formed by the country’s major opposition parties — Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) — in late September to start a countrywide campaign to remove Imran Khan’s government and hold early elections.

Since mid-October, the PDM has held three big rallies — in Gujranwala, Karachi and Quetta — gathering thousands of protesters. The next one is planned to take place in Peshawar on Nov. 22.