18 deaths, 676 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Punjab

F.P. Report
LAHORE: The pandemic of COVID-19 claimed 18 more lives in last 24 hours, while 676 new cases of coronavirus were reported on Friday across the province.
According to data shared by a spokesperson of Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) , coronavirus cases in the province reached 143,511, while total deaths were 4,221.
P&SHD confirmed that 439 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Lahore, 7 in Kasur,1 in Sheikhupura, 1 in Nankana Sahib,58 in Rawalpindi, 2 in Jehlum,7 in Gujranwala,1 in Mandi Bahauddin, 8 in Sialkot,3 in Narowal,10 in Gujrat,30 in Faisalabad,2 in Toba Tek Singh,2 in Jhang, 3 in Chiniot, 5 in Sargodha, 29 in Multan, 5 in Vehari, 4 in Lodharan, 1 in Dera Ghazi Khan, 17 in Layyah,1 in Muzaffargarh, 5 in Rahimyar Khan,16 in Bahawalpur,4 in Bahawalnagar, 5 in Pakpattan, 2 in Okara and 8 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Sahiwal district during the last 24 hours till filing of this news. Punjab health department has conducted 2,565,879 tests for COVID-19 so far, whereas 129,321 patients recovered altogether in the province.
So far 2,896 frontline healthcare workers got infected with the coronavirus during their duties.
Federal capital records 155 fresh corona cases in last 24 hours: NCOC: The COVID-19 cases continued to surge in the federal capital as 155 new corona cases were reported from the city during the last 24 hours, National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Friday. According to an official of NCOC, as many as 156 cases were reported on Thursday while 136 cases were reported on Wednesday.
He said so far 38,842 cases were reported from the federal capital while 436 deaths were reported from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). He added 36,231 patients had been recovered completely.
Meanwhile, on the direction of Ministry of National Health Services, the district administration of Islamabad had continued smart lockdown in different streets of the capital to reduce transmission of the infection in the selected streets and other sectors.
They also started taking actions on violation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) related with the corona while visiting marriage halls, markets and petrol pumps by its inspection teams. The administration also sealed schools, shops, workshop and restaurants on violation of SOPs.
The inspection teams also issued notices to marriage halls besides imposing fines on owners of different shops. Commenting on the situation, an official of Ministry of National Health Services said that several local level administrative decisions were made to control the disease.
He advised the citizens to continue following the social distancing, use of mask and other precautionary measures to stop increasing local transmission of COVID-19 in the city. He said the government had adopted effective strategy to combat COVID-19 that resulted reduction in corona cases in the country.
He said a strategy was made to control corona keeping in view the global information, focusing on data with integration of local data in a scientific way. He said the ministry had also asked the administrations of public and private organization functioning in the ICT to strictly monitor the SOPs to ensure protection of their employees from the COVID-19.