Pakistan reported 872 new COVID-19 cases and nine more deaths during the last 24 hours, the country's ministry of health said on Thursday. The tally of infected people increased to 1,540,952 after adding the new cases, according to the data released by the ministry. According to the ministry's statistics, a total of 30,413 people died from COVID-19 in Pakistan, with nine more deaths recorded on Wednesday. On Wednesday, 23,125 tests for COVID-19 were conducted in Pakistan while the positivity rate stood at 3.77 per cent. Currently, 165 active cases are in critical condition in the South Asian country.
Amid fears of a new wave of coronavirus, experts advocated mask-wearing indoors in cities reporting cases that constitute over 5 per cent positivity, reported Geo News.
They also stressed vigilant watch through good surveillance and testing, vaccination with emphasis on boosters and communication about rising risk, especially in urban settings.
Pakistan is currently witnessing a new surge in the COVID-19 cases and amid this, the country's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has also tweaked its mask mandates where now the masks are mandatory again for domestic flights with immediate effect.
According to a notification from CAA, all concerned quarters must ensure compliance with the new order. The notification added that the other Covid-19 guidelines on domestic air travel remained unchanged.
While speaking with Dawn, University of Health Sciences Vice-Chancellor Dr Javed Akram had said the virus was behaving like a "roller coaster". "The country will face similar situations for a few years," Dr Akram said.
Akram said that the restrictions must be put back in place to contain the virus. He added that these measures will also help to fight the ongoing energy crisis. He said that people should go for vaccination and those who were already immunized should get booster shots.
( With inputs from ANI )
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