Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 659,116 on Monday after 4,525 new coronavirus cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
Overall 264,889 cases were confirmed in Sindh, 215,227 in Punjab, 85,531 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19,525 in Balochistan, 56,450 in Islamabad 5,010 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 12,484 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 14,256 with 41 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 598,197 after another 2,268 virus recoveries were reported.
Meanwhile, the government has banned all kind of indoor and outdoor gatherings with immediate effect to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The decision has been taken in the meeting of National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) held in Islamabad with Asad Umar in the chair.
These gatherings include all social, cultural, political, sports and other events.
There will be a complete ban on marriage ceremonies, including indoor and outdoor from April 5, however, provinces will be at liberty to implement restrictions in early time frame as per the situation on ground.
Moreover, the NCOC will provide updated hotspot maps to provinces for enforcement of expanded lockdowns with effect from tomorrow.
Various options for reduction of inter provincial transport were considered during the meeting and decided that final decision will be taken based on the input from provinces and analysis of data regarding number of inter provincial commuters via air, rail and road.
It is pertinent to mention that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 126.300,000 million and death toll tops 2.770, 000 million.
