Pakistan confirms 372 new COVID-19 cases, 6 more deaths

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday confirmed 372 new COVID-19 cases and six more deaths, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Sunday.

The NCOC, a department leading the country’s campaign against the pandemic, said the country had confirmed overall 1,286,825 cases so far, including 1,245,606 recoveries.

The country has 12,452 active cases including 854 in critical condition.

The pandemic killed six people on Saturday, increasing the overall death toll to 28,767.

Pakistan’s southern Sindh province is the most affected region of the country in terms of the number of cases with 476,674 infections followed by the eastern Punjab province which has reported 443,453 infections. Enditem.

Fresh restrictions in Sindh

The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) warned that the new variant of coronavirus, Omicron, was wreaking havoc worldwide, particularly in Europe, and eventually would also affect Pakistan.

Although the NCOC did not give any guidelines to contain Covid-19, the Sindh government had issued a notification to impose a ‘soft lockdown’ throughout the province.

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The provincial government imposed fresh restrictions in the province to contain the Covid-19 Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

According to the notification, the government intensified restrictions for the ‘C’ category districts over the slow pace of vaccinations and fear of a surge in infections.

The authorities concerned directed that attendance at hotels and restaurants in these districts may not surpass 50 per cent of total capacity.

Moreover, only 70pc attendance will be allowed for indoor dine-in gatherings while hotels will not be allowed to seat customers at more than 70pc of the total capacity.

The provincial government also imposed a ban on the participation of more than 300 people in weddings in Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Khairpur and Ghotki districts.

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It also banned indoor gatherings with the participation of more than 500 people in the Karachi, Sanghar and Sukkur divisions. These areas were included in the ‘B’ category due to a better ratio of vaccination.

The provincial government also announced that only fully vaccinated people will be allowed to enter cinemas throughout the province.

Only vaccinated individuals will be allowed to take part in activities related to tourism, board a flight, and enter a public park or a swimming pool area.

The new restrictions placed under the Viral Diseases Act shall remain in effect till December 15, the notification added.

Read more: Sindh requests federal govt to provide one million Pfizer doses for booster shots

However, all educational institutes of the province shall remain open until further directives.

It further stated that business activities in the province shall continue until 10 pm.