Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Health Department on Monday extended the health emergency for three months in the province amid the fears of a new Covid wave in the country, Aaj News reported.

According to a notification, the provincial government took the decision to extend the emergency, which ended on Dec 31, 2021, in wake of the fifth wave of the coronavirus. All the departments concerned have been informed in this regard.

It added the health emergency was extended till March 31.

KP’s decision comes after an increasing number of Omicron – the new Covid variant – cases across the country. As many as 630 cases were reported over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases in Pakistan to 1,297,865, according to the daily statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre.

The latest tally showed that Sindh reported the most number of cases with 483,165 infected patients, followed by Punjab (445,630), KP (181,498), Islamabad (180,823), Balochistan (33,648), Gilgit-Baltistan (10,429), and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (34,672).

Moreover, 44,198 tests were conducted in a single day and the Covid positivity ratio stands at 1.42%. Two people died and 641 people are in critical care.

The NCOC on Monday directed provinces to achieve the set vaccination target “as soon as possible.”

According to a statement, the decision was made during the NCOC meeting that was presided over by its head Asad Umar, who has already warned of another wave of contagion in the country based on the results of genome sequencing.

The forum, which serves as the nerve centre of the country’s unified efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus, had reviewed the Covid statistics, vaccination policy, virus outbreak, vaccination targets at the district level.

It had decided to take strict measures for vaccination. “The fifth wave of Covid in form of the Omicron variant was spreading at a faster pace. In the past three days, Karachi’s Covid positivity ratio has increased from 2% to 6%,” it read.

The NCOC had urged the citizens to get vaccinated against the virus, wear masks, and follow social distancing. “Vaccination lowers the chances of getting infected with Omicron.”

A day earlier, NCOC head Asad Umar tweeted evidence of a fifth wave emerging in the country.