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Partial lockdown imposed in capital of Pakistan after surge in virus

The outbreak is said to be worse than last year’s which led to a national lockdown.

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People at a vaccine centre in Lahore (K. M. Chaudary/AP)

Pakistani authorities imposed a partial lockdown in several more high-risk areas in the capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in the country after the positivity rate from coronavirus infections jumped to over 11%.

Pakistan is facing another surge in coronavirus infections which officials say is worse than last year’s outbreak when Pakistan had to impose a nationwide lockdown.

On Monday, authorities in the eastern Punjab province also announced a two-week long partial lockdown in high-risk cities from April 1 in an effort aimed at containing the spread of the virus.

A lone man walks past shops closed due to the new government instructions to control the spread of the coronavirus in Peshawar, Pakistan (Muhammad Sajjad/AP)
A lone man walks past shops closed due to the new government instructions to control the spread of the coronavirus in Peshawar, Pakistan (Muhammad Sajjad/AP)

So far, Pakistan’s government has avoided a nationwide lockdown to spare the country’s ailing economy from more damage.

On Monday, Pakistan reported 41 additional deaths and 4,525 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.

Pakistan has reported 659,116 cases in total, and 14,256 deaths, since last year.

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