Pakistan facing fourth COVID wave, public should adopt SOPs: Faisal Sultan

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr. Faisal Sultan said that the country was facing the fourth COVID wave and urged the public to adopt SOPs and get vaccinated, ARY NEWS reported on Monday.

In a virtual media briefing, the health minister said that there is a surge in COVID cases in the country as they face the fourth wave. “Public should strictly follow COVID SOPs,” he said.

Dr Faisal Sultan further said that assistance would be sought from Pakistan Army and civil administration in the strict implementation of the COVID SOPs.

He further said that after SOPs implementation, vaccination is another key process to overcome the fourth wave. “We have enough doses of the vaccine and there is no complaint regarding shortage,” the SAPM said while sharing a proposal to link tourism with the vaccination process.

He said that the government would again impose smart lockdown in certain areas.

Pakistan’s COVID tally 

The COVID-19 has claimed 15 more lives in Pakistan over the past 24 hours, taking the country’s virus tally to 975,092.

According to the latest figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the nationwide death toll currently stands at 22,597 after the latest inclusion of the fatalities.

As many as 47,015 tests were conducted in the previous 24 hours, out of which results of 1,808 patients came back positive.

The infection rate slightly dropped to 3.84 percent from yesterday’s 4.09%, it said.

There are a total of 38,622 active cases in the country at present as 670 more people recuperated from the disease overnight, taking the number of recovered people to 913,873.