Pakistan recommends mask-wearing in crowds amid new COVID-19 cases

ISLAMABAD: Health authorities have recommended people to weak mask at crowded places as Pakistan reported more than hundred fresh cases of the coronavirus on Friday, amid a rising trend in the virus spread in the South Asian country. 

Pakistan conducted 4,917 tests for the virus in the last 24 hours, according to the National Institute of Health (NIH), a government-owned medical research facility in Islamabad. 

Of the total test conducted, 133 turned out to be coronavirus-positive, comprising a virus positivity ratio of 2.70 percent. 

Meanwhile, the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), which oversees the country’s coronavirus response, recommended people to take precautionary measures till April 30 to prevent the spread of the disease. 

“Mask wearing is recommended at crowded, tightly enclosed spaces including health care facilities,” the NCOC said in a notification. 

The instructions by the health authorities come a week before the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslim fast and attend congregational prayers in large numbers for a month. 

In February this year, Pakistan reported its first case of BF.7 coronavirus sub-variant in the southern port city of Karachi, making experts urge people to exercise caution since the new strain could spread more rapidly and pose serious health problems to people with weak immune system. 

Pakistan reported its first case of COVID-19, which is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in Karachi on February 26, 2020, when a young pilgrim arriving from Iran had tested positive for the disease. 

Since then, Pakistan has reported more than 30,000 deaths due to the virus.