Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has appealed people to demonstrate seriousness in observance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) to check the fast spread of Coronavirus pandemic in the country.

Addressing a news conference after a meeting of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) in Islamabad on Wednesday, he regretted that people as well as the administration are not showing the level of seriousness that they demonstrated during the first wave of Covid-19, which was successfully controlled.

The Minister said the situation has reached the alarming level, and if the rising trend of the pandemic is not contained in a couple of days, the government will have to take further strict steps in the major cities.

Giving the latest figures, Asad Umar said there are currently over 83,000 Covid-19 patients in the country. He said the positivity ratio has crossed even 30 percent in certain cities. He said Sindh had relatively been safe; however, the positivity ratio in Karachi also reached 13 percent yesterday.

He said over six hundred patients are being brought to hospitals daily, and the number of the patients on oxygen has crossed 4500, which is 33 percent higher than the peak level of the first wave. He said the current week is going to witness the highest ever death toll in a week since the pandemic has hit the country. He said more than eighty-five percent ventilators in several cities are occupied. He said the oxygen production in the country is not unlimited, and currently, over ninety percent of the capacity is being produced.

The Minister said the NCOC has made some decisions keeping in view the latest critical situation, which will be shared with the provinces.

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