Lately, Punjab has been seeing a spike in coronavirus cases. In the past week, on average, 100-120 new cases were reported daily in the province.

The most populous province of the country has had coronavirus infection contained for several weeks as the authorities successfully implemented the 'Smart Lockdown' strategy across the region. It proved to be a quite effective policy as it brought down the daily provincial cases to under 100. The tally remained consistently below 100 for several weeks.

It's only now that the cases have started to increase in Punjab. 171 new cases reported in the province in the past 24 hours. Also, 4 coronavirus-related fatalities were confirmed by the authorities in the province in the past 24 hours.

According to the federal government, the latest coronavirus statistics of Punjab are as follows:

• Confirmed Cases: 102,107

• Deaths: 2,323

• Recoveries: 97,289

Pakistan is heading towards the second wave of coronavirus. The government of Pakistan has also sounded alarm bells regarding the surge in viral cases. We mustn't take the situation lightly. It's time for the public to follow Covid SOPs and avoid public gatherings as much as possible. Most importantly, researchers have found that just wearing masks in public has proven to make a huge difference. So wear masks and stay safe!