Prime Minister Imran Khan’s special assistant on health warned on Monday that the government will review its decision to ease lockdown and further intensify it if people continue to ignore the precautionary measures to stop spread of coronavirus.
“It is wrong thinking that [the spread of] coronavirus has ended in Pakistan or the disease or its spread is over in the country,” Dr Zafar Mirza, PM Khan’s special assistant, said in a message.
The country’s top health official said that not only the number of cases is increasing but the death toll is also increasing.
PM Khan’s special assistant said that the government had issued SOPs for shops, markets, mosques and other public places. “But we observed on Eid that they are not being followed,” Mirza said.
“I want to tell you that the government will review the situation after Eid and if a need arises and SOPs are not followed we will review our lockdown decision,” he added.
The virus has so far killed 1,162 people in Pakistan and the number of known cases in the country has jumped to 56,792, according to provincial health authorities.
Mirza warned that the death toll from coronavirus could drastically increase if people continue to ignore the warnings by the government.
Pakistan, which had been under a lockdown since March’s last week, had eased the lockdown a week before Eid-ul-Fitr.