Peshawar, Karachi recording the most coronavirus cases

Ban on serving meals during domestic flights

Peshawar has reported the highest number of coronavirus cases, followed by Karachi and Hyderabad, as per the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) yesterday.

The highly-contagious coronavirus causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

A meeting of the NCOC was held under the chairmanship of Planning Minister Asad Umar, in which officials shared the data indicating that Peshawar has the highest percentage of Covid-19 cases, at 19.65%.

Karachi is second with 17.73%, and Hyderabad is third with 16.32%.

Umar said that the priority of the government is to protect people from the deadly disease.

He added that measures are being taken to contain spread of the coronavirus and urged the public to follow standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Meanwhile, 3,113 people contracted Covid-19 and 54 more died in the past 24 hours, as per NCOC statistics.

A total of 43,214 people were tested.

The number of patients who have recovered from the virus has reached 335,881.

The disease has claimed the lives of 7,897 people so far.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, a total of 389,311 cases have been detected, with Sindh reporting 168,783, Punjab 117,160, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 46,281, Balochistan 17,008, Islamabad 28,980, Kashmir 6,501, and Gilgit-Baltistan 4,598.

A total of 5,386,916 corona tests have been conducted so far, while 2,112 patients admitted in hospitals across the country are said to be in critical condition.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has meanwhile imposed a ban on serving meals during all domestic flight operations – chartered and private – as coronavirus cases in the country continue to rise.

Passengers and crew members have also been asked to wear face masks throughout the flight.

In pursuance of the authority’s directive, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has discontinued serving hot beverages like tea or coffee on domestic and international flights so that interactions between members of the crew and passengers could be limited; prepackaged cold beverages will be served during the flight instead.

According to the PIA, this move is a part of new SOPs issued by the NCOC.

Passengers will be allowed to bring their own meals if they wish.