'Smart lockdown' strategy helped reduce coronavirus cases across country: Shibli Faraz

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Senator Shibli Faraz said on Saturday that Pakistan witnessed a decrease in Covid-19 cases due to smart lockdown strategy being implemented across the country to stem the spread of coronavirus.

Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad on Saturday, the information minister thanked and appreciated the public for joining hands with the government following the Standard Operating Procedures to meet the global pandemic.

Shibli Faraz said Pakistan was the first country that introduced smart lockdown strategy, adding that strategy is being adopted by many countries in the world also.

He also appreciated the critical role of doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff who are caring corona patients in hospitals and isolation centers across the country.

He said the number of Covid-19 testing laboratories across the country has been increased to 129 from two. Shibli Faraz further said that Pakistan has now become the country to produce ventilators on its own.

It must be noted that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) claimed 68 more lives in the country in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 4,619.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 3,387 new infections were detected after 22,050 tests were conducted in the previous 24 hours, taking the national tally of cases to 225,283.

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More than 1.3 million tests have been conducted in the country while 95,570 COVID-19 patients are undergoing treatment and 125,094 patients have recuperated from the disease.

90,721 cases have been detected in Sindh so far, 80,297 in Punjab, 27,506 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 10,717  in Balochistan, 13, 292 in Islamabad, 1,214 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 1,536 in Gilgit Baltistan.