Pak's coronavirus cases could reach up to 12 lakh by July end: Minister

Pakistan's COVID-19 cases could reach up to 12 lakh by end of July, a top minister said on Sunday, as country registered a record 6,825 infections in last 24 hours, taking tally to 139,230.

Minister for Planning As Umar, who is in-charge of national response to coronavirus pandemic, told a press conference that current tally could double by end of this month to reach 300,000 cases.

"We're in mid-June and our cases have reached approximately 150,000. It sdens me to say that based on our current trajectory, experts have projected that our cases could double by end of June," he said.

Umar said that “with current trajectory, vel coronavirus could reach 10 lakh to 12 lakh by end of July.”

ting that it was just a projection which can be avoided if government and people work toger to stop it, he urged people to get serious about disease and wear masks.

"Research has indicated that wearing masks is a verified way of curbing spre of COVID-19, by up to 50 per cent," he said.

He said that National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), which is heed by him, h me face masks mandatory at public places.

He also vised people to strictly follow social distancing rules.

“We are w at st where we will start taking ministrative action against those who are t wearing masks or maintaining social distancing," he warned.

Umar said that smart lockdown would be imposed on various hotspots across country.

Talking about testing capacity, he said that government would enhance current 30,000 per day test capacity to 100,000 per day by end of July.

"We were only testing 500 people at start (of pandemic). w we are able to conduct 30,000 tests per day and NCOC has decided to take our (testing) capacity to more than 100,000 tests per day by end of July," he said.

His warning came as Pakistan recorded highest number of 6,825 coronavirus cases in a single day as its tally of COVID-19 patients reached 139,230.

Ministry of National Health Services reported that 81 patients died of disease in last 24 hours, taking death toll to 2,632.

A total of 51,735 have recovered from disease.

However, number of patients in two largest provinces of Punjab and Sindh crossed 50,000 each.

data showed that Punjab detected 52,601 cases, Sindh 51,518, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 17,450, Balochistan 8,028, Islamab 7,934, Gilgit-Baltistan 1,095 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 604.

So far, 868,565 tests have been conducted across country, including 29,546 in last 24 hours.