Islamabad [Pakistan]: Pakistan on Saturday reported over 500 COVID-19 new cases for the second consecutive days and six deaths in the last 24 hours. According to the government’s official COVID portal, Pakistan recorded a total of 556 new cases of coronavirus on Friday, whereas 6 more fatalities were recorded, reported The Express Tribune. Pakistan has so far recorded a total of 1,295,933 cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic started. At least 28,933 people have succumbed to the infection Meanwhile, Pakistan’s COVID positivity rate has risen to 1.08 per cent, reported National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). Further, a 15-day micro-smart lockdown was imposed in block 7 of Karachi’s Gulshan-e-Iqbal after the emergence of at least 12 cases of Omicron variant in the area, reported The Express Tribune. “In exercise of powers conferred under Section 3 of the Sindh Epidemic Diseases Act 2014 (as amended in 2020), I, Taha Saleem, Deputy Commissioner District Karachi East hereby impose smart lockdown and micro-smart lockdown, which shall be enforced in the streets and houses of specified area respectively as given below, for a definite period of two weeks only,” read the notification by the deputy commissioner’s office. After the imposition of the smart lockdown, there will be a ban on all sorts of public gatherings in the area, the notification said, adding that the government will strictly enforce the implementation of the SOPs, reported The Express Tribune. “In order to reduce the transmission and spread of COVID-19, besides mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing interventions, it is also fundamental to ensure isolation, contact tracing and testing being the three pillars of TTT (TTQ) strategy of the government for the containment of Covid-19,” the notification added. According to the notification, the restrictions will remain in place till January 14 to avert a health crisis. On Tuesday, the National Institute of Health confirmed 75 cases of the Omicron strain of COVID-19 across the country, reported The Express Tribune. “Since the WHO (World Health Organisation) designated Omicron as a Variant of Concern on November 26, 2021, the Ministry of NHSRC (National Health Systems Resource Centre), NCOC, NIH (National Institute of Health) and the provincial health departments have remained vigilant to detect the variant in Pakistan,” read an official statement. “The first case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 was reported on December 13 in Karachi. As of December 27, 2021, a total of 75 Omicron cases have been confirmed – 33 in Karachi, 17 in Islamabad and 13 in Lahore,” it had added.
