NA Temporarily Cancels Activities Due to Surge in Coronavirus Cases

As coronavirus cases in the country are on the rise due to the third wave of the disease, the National Assembly has informed that it will be temporarily suspending all of its activities for the time being. 

The administration of the NA secretariat released a statement, which stated that the offices of the secretariat will stay closed for the next two days.

The announcement further added that all the sessions of the special and standing committees, as well as the public accounts, have been canceled. The offices, the statement informed, will remain closed until the 16th of March. 

The notification also revealed that the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was previously directed to disinfect the offices of the secretariat. On the same note, the staffers had been instructed to get tested immediately, if any symptoms emerged. 

The concerned officers have been told that they can ask the basic staff to rejoin the office from the 17th of March. 

In addition, all staffers will now have to wear a face mask before they enter the secretariat. The timings for the offices from the 17th of March will be from 10am to 4pm. 

As per data published by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), Pakistan reported a total number of 2,664 cases on Saturday alone. Around 53 deaths had been recorded because of which the death toll in the country is now at 13,487. 

So far, Pakistan has recorded more than 603,000 cases, out of which 569,798 people have since recovered from the disease. 

Asad Umar, the Federal Minister, also confirmed last week that the third wave of the infection has begun in Pakistan. He attributed the rising number of cases to the UK strain of the disease, which recently emerged.