4th wave of Covid-19 could hit Pakistan in July: NCOC head

ISLAMABAD: National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) head Asad Umar on Friday foresaw a fourth wave of Covid-19 hitting Pakistan in July.

In a statement on his official Twitter account, the planning and development minister said a meeting of the NCOC reviewed an artificial intelligence-based disease modeling analysis.

“In the absence of strong SOP enforcement and continued strong vaccination program, the 4th wave could emerge in Pakistan in July,” Umar said, urging people to adhere to the SOPs and get themselves vaccinated against the virus as soon as possible.

44 more people lost their lives to COVID-19 over the past 24 hours in Pakistan, pushing the nationwide death toll to 22,152.

According to the NCOC, 1,052 new cases of the virus emerged during the said period. The overall number of the confirmed cases currently stands at 952,907. It said Pakistan recorded Covid-19 infection rate at 2.29 during the last 24 hours.

The number of people who have recovered from the disease since the first case of the pandemic was reported in Pakistan has climbed to 897,834 after 1,013 more people recuperated.