Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar says the measures put in place by the government to contain the recent rise in Covid-19 cases have started yielding results.

“Increased restrictions, broader lockdowns & stronger sop enforcement starting to have effect. Initial signs of positivity slowing,” the minister, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19, wrote on his official Twitter handle today.

However, he added, the number of patients in critical care and mortality ratio will stay at high levels for some time due to “momentum of last 2 weeks”. He urged the masses to follow the SOPs religiously to keep the virus at bay.

Increased restrictions, broader lockdowns & stronger sop enforcement starting to have effect. Initial signs of positivity slowing. However, due to momentum of last 2 weeks patients on critical care & mortality will stay at high levels for some time. Please follow sop's & be safe

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) April 6, 2021

According to the NCOC, the coronavirus claimed 103 more lives in Pakistan during the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 14,924. 3,953 fresh infections were reported when 46,665 samples were tested.

The number of active cases has soared to 63,102 while the positivity rate was recorded at 8.47 per cent.