The Punjab Health Department has called for the closure of the educational institutions across the province in view of the surging fourth wave of coronavirus throughout the country, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Saturday, quoting its sources.

The Health Department has forwarded its proposal to the Punjab Apex Committee, which is chaired by the chief minister.

According to the sources, the Health Department has called for a review of decision regarding educational institutions.

The Department was of the view that the fourth wave is surging amid increasing cases of Indian Delta variant which poses a threat to the lives of the children.

See Also: Pakistan’s single-day coronavirus death toll shoots up to 95

According to the latest NCOC statistics, the coronavirus claimed 31 more lives while 1,099 new cases were reported in the province during the last 24 hours (Friday). 

According to data shared by the spokesperson for the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) in Lahore on Saturday, the death toll in the province has soared to 11,170 and the number of total cases stood at 362,557 whereas 334,807 patients had been recovered so far. 

As per data provided by the P&SHD, currently 16,580 patients are under treatment in different hospitals and 208 have been recovered. 

The Health Department conducted 20,413 tests for the COVID-19 during the last 24 hours whereas the total number of tests stood at 6.29 million.

See Also: ADB lends Pakistan $500 million for vaccine procurement

Meanwhile, during the last 24 hours 555,720 citizens had been vaccinated in 662 centres and a total number of vaccinated people reached 19,478,127 in the province. 

The Health Department urged the masses to follow SOPs for their protection and cover their faces with masks besides washing their hands with soap several times in a day to protect themselves from the COVID-19.

Contact 1033 immediately about symptoms of coronavirus, the department urged people.

Reporter Ali Ramay