Health

Pakistan records over 200 Covid-19 related deaths for first time

Islamabad, Apr 28 (EFE).- Pakistan recorded over 200 deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours for the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic in the Asian country, prompting the government to consider tightening restrictions.

The third wave of the pandemic in the country of 220 million people has turned out to be more severe than the previous one, with 201 dead in the last 24 hours, surpassing the previous the record of 157 daily deaths recorded last week.

Moreover, 5,292 cases were detected in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of infections to 810,231. The total death toll stands at 17,530.

Amid the surge in cases and fatalities the government on Tuesday imposed restrictions on travel between provinces during the next week and Eid holidays.

Moreover, the National Command and Operation Centre, which is managing the response to the pandemic, said it was studying the possibility of implementing strict lockdown in 20 cities in the country, including Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore.

That announcement comes two days after the Army deployed troops across Pakistan to help the police enforce people wear masks and follow social distancing norms in the face of the surge in cases.

The decision was announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan in a speech on Friday in which he made multiple references to neighboring India, which is witnessing record numbers of deaths and infections, with over 3,000 daily fatalities and more than 300,000 infections in recent days.

Meanwhile the vaccination process continues to advance at a slow pace in Pakistan, with 117,000 doses administered Tuesday, a record for this nation, Health Minister Faisal Sultan tweeted.

According to the minister, so far two million people have received at least one dose of the five million vaccines that have arrived in the country, mainly from the Chinese Sinopharm and Cansino.

Sultan added that 6.7 million doses are expected to arrive in May and another 6.3 million doses in June. EFE

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