Five major cites contribute 70pc of COVID-19 spread, NCOC told

ISLAMABAD: Five major cities of the country, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Hyderabad and Peshawar were contributing 70 per cent of coronavirus spread, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) was told on Sunday.

According to the details, the National Command and Operation Centre was briefed today that around 46 deaths on an average per day were recorded for this week while average 237 hospital admissions were also noted.

The forum directed for stringent enforcement measures to control the spread of disease. The NCOC has said that Pakistan’s COVID-19 positivity ratio has reached 7.1 per cent.

A meeting of the NCOC was held with Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar in the chair to review the situation of coronavirus cases and implementation on the SOPs across the country.

The forum was informed that the highest test positivity rate was recorded at 24.85 per cent in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), followed by Hyderabad at 22.18%, and Karachi at 18.96 %.

There are a total of 2,186 critically ill Covid-19 patients across the country but the number of such patients is increasing sharply, the NCOC was informed.

Asad Umar earlier on Saturday had said protecting the masses from the pandemic was the government’s foremost priority. All-out efforts were being made to contain the spread of the virus with round-the-clock monitoring of the Covid situation, he had added.