Federal Minister for Planning and Development and National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) head Asad Umar said on Saturday that government may have to impose yet another lockdown in parts of the country if there is a continued increase in coronavirus cases.

The statement came as the positivity ratio in the country has exceeded 6%. Asad Umar chaired a meeting of NCOC, the country's nerve centre for unified efforts against coronavirus, to discuss the latest Covid situation in the country and implementation of coronavirus Standard Operation Procedure (SOPs).

During the meeting, concerns were raised over the soaring positivity ratio of COVID-19 cases.

"The third wave of coronavirus has started in Pakistan and lockdown can be imposed in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to curb the spread of coronavirus," Umar said and added, "The COVID-19 tests positivity ratio in the country has reached 6pc, which is alarming."

Punjab reimposes restrictions amid rising COVID-19 cases:

Amid rising coronavirus cases, the Punjab government has decided that markets in seven districts of the province with the highest ratio of cases will close at 6 pm.

The decision was made by Chief Minister (CM) Punjab Usman Buzdar in light of the number of cases being reported in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sargodha. “Educational institutions, parks, indoor ceremonies, Mazars will remain close for 15 days,” Buzdar tweeted.

The decisions were taken during a meeting of the cabinet committee on combating coronavirus threat convened by Usman Buzdar to review the pandemic situation in the wake of the National Command and Operation Centre’s (NCOC) decision to re-impose restrictions due to a surge in infections.