LAHORE, APR 12 (DNA) – Chief Minister of Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar on Monday has asked religious scholars to urge people to wear face masks and get vaccinated against coronavirus.

Usman Buzdar, in a statement, has asked religious leaders to play their roles in these testing times of coronavirus pandemic. Recent wave of the virus has increased pressure on health system but implementation of SOPs is not satisfactory, he added.

The chief minister said the protection of lives is duty of everyone and urged people to wear face masks and maintain social distancing to save precious human lives. On the other hand, Pakistan has reported 58 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 725,602.

The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 15,501 on Monday. According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) 4,584 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Punjab remains the worst-hit province in terms of deaths followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Till now 6,988 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab 4,530 in Sindh, 2,651 in KP, 611 in Islamabad, 403 in Azad Kashmir, 215 in Balochistan, and 103 in GB.

Furthermore 269,126 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 250,459 in Punjab, 99,595 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 66,380 in Islamabad, 20,321 in Balochistan, 14,594 in Azad Kashmir and 5,127 in Gilgit-Baltistan. = DNA

=======================