Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan on Saturday rose to 38,799.
Overall, 14,201 cases were reported in Punjab, 14,916 in Sindh, 5,678 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2,457 in Balochistan, 518 in Gilgit Baltistan, 921 in Islamabad, and 105 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to the National Command and Control Centre, the death toll related to COVID-19 has reached 834, while at least 10,880 patients have fully recovered.
The number of coronavirus cases has continued to soar despite the country remained under a lockdown nearly one and a half month.
On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said that we will have to learn to live with the coronavirus this year as its cure is not forthcoming soon.
In his televised address to explain the situation regarding the Covid-19, the premier said that the country could not afford an indefinite lockdown as 150 million people have been affected by the lockdown enforced to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
PM Khan said that the government is prepared to deal with an increase in the number of coronavirus cases and is working on increasing healthcare capacity.
While reiterating that the government was dealing with the crisis on the basis of consensus, the prime minister appealed to the provinces to reopen public transport.
Khan insisted that it was the common man that was suffering due to public transport being suspended.
However, Sindh govt refused to resume transport services as Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa announced reopening all public transport from Monday.
Meanwhile, partial domestic flight operation starts from today to facilitate people.
This was stated by Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan in a video statement.
He said the operation will resume after a period of around two months. He said PIA and Serene Air will resume their flights for Lahore, Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.
The minister said that each passenger will be scanned and his body temperature will be checked before embarkation, besides providing him with face mask and hand sanitizer. At disembarkation, the passenger will have to undergo the same SOPs.
It is pertinent to mention here that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 4.5 million and death toll tops 301,000.
