Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar has said that the national positivity rate recorded yesterday was the highest in more than 50 days.

He said that 11 virus deaths on average were reported during the first four days of the week, the highest since August. "Unmistakable signs of the rise of corona."

The minister added positivity was extremely high in Muzaffarabad, remained high in Karachi, and rising in Lahore and Islamabad.

"Time for all of us to take Covid SOPs seriously again. Otherwise, we may have to take restrictive actions which have negative effects on people's livelihoods."