The national death tally due to the novel coronavirus has jumped to 19,106 after the country recorded 113 more fatalities in the last 24 hours.

According to the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), 3,084 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the national toll of confirmed cases to 864,557.

Pakistan has conducted 38,883 tests in the past 24 hours out of which 3,084 persons were tested positive for the disease. The COVID Positivity Ratio was recorded at 7.93 percent

It should be noted that Pakistan Government began a nine-day shutdown affecting travel and tourist hotspots in a bid to prevent a surge in COVID-19 cases during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

Already battling the third wave of infections and increasingly nervous about the crisis across the border in India, the government has imposed the most severe restrictions since a one-month lockdown in April last year.

Asad Umar, the planning minister who is responsible for leading Pakistan’s pandemic response, said Pakistan was facing a dangerous situation.

“These measures have been necessitated by the extremely dangerous situation which has been created in the region with the spread of virulent mutations of the virus,” Umar said on Twitter, adding the country needed to unite.