President Alvi tests COVID-19 positive for the second time

ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi took to Twitter on Thursday to announce he has tested positive for the coronavirus for the second time.

The president announced he tested positive for the virus after having a sore throat for the last four or five days. 

He urged people to follow precautionary measures as well as the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs) to stay safe.

"I have tested [positive] for COVID again. Had a sore throat since 4-5 days [and] was getting better. Felt mildly feverish for a few hours two nights ago. No other symptoms," he wrote.

The president earlier tested positive for COVID-19 in March 2021.

Pakistan's COVID-19 positivity ratio exceeds 2%

Alvi tested positive for coronavirus on the same day when Pakistan's COVID-19 positivity ratio exceeds 2% in a single day for the first time since October 14 last year, as 1,085 new infections were detected during the last 24 hours, official data for Thursday morning showed.

On October 14, 2021, the positivity ratio stood at 2.03%. Daily infections have crossed the 1,000-mark for the first time since October 14.

As per the statistics issued by National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the new cases pushed the positivity rate to 2.32%, which is a 0.5% increase in Wednesday's ratio, which was 1.8%.

However, NCOC chief Asad Umar said that despite the country recording a rapid surge in infections over the last two weeks the government has no intentions of imposing a coronavirus lockdown for now.

"For now, we are closely monitoring the numbers from Pakistan and across the globe; we are emphasising on vaccinations," the federal minister for planning, development and special initiatives told Geo News.

He highlighted that instead of lockdowns, the government is focusing on ramping up vaccinations and strict implementation of the bans placed earlier on certain activities if one is not vaccinated.