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Islamabad, Nov 23 (IANS): Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned of a total lockdown across the country if the opposition continued to hold public rallies despite an ongoing second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the media reported on Monday.
In the last 24 hours, Pakistan reported 2,665 new cases, which marked the highest single-day increase, and 59 fatalities, Dawn news reported.
With the addition of the new cases and fatalities, the overall infection tally and death toll have surged to 374,173 and 7,696, respectively.
Acknowledging that the second wave is a matter of concern, the premier in a series of tweets on Sunday night said: "In Pakistan, the PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement) by continuing with jalsas is deliberately endangering lives and livelihoods because if cases continue to rise at the rate we are seeing, we will be compelled to go into complete lockdown and PDM will be responsible for consequences
"Opposition is callously destroying people"s lives and livelihoods in their desperation to get an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance). Let me make it clear: they can hold a million jalsas but will not get any NRO.
"I do not want to take measures like a lockdown that will start hurting our economy which at the moment is showing signs of a robust recovery. Unfortunately, the opposition's only goal is NRO at whatever cost to the lives of people and the country's economy."
In another tweet, Khan also said that there was a 200 per cent increase in the number of patients on ventilators in Peshawar and Multan during the last 15 days.
It was 148 per cent in Karachi, 114 per cent in Lahore and 65 per cent in Islamabad.
Seventy per cent ventilators were in use in Multan and Islamabad, he added.
Khan's announcement came after the PDM staged its fourth power show in Peshawar on Sunday despite a ban on public gatherings and also without permission from the city administration.