The World Health Organization has recommended Pakistani authorities reimpose “intermittent lockdowns” of targeted areas to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, stating the country did not meet the global body’s conditions for lifting restrictions. A surge of new cases has hit the South Asian nation after the government lifted its lockdown on May 9 citing economic pressures. A total of 108,316 cases and 2,172 deaths, have been recorded, with Monday seeing a single-day record of 105 fatalities. In letters sent by the WHO on June 7 to health authorities of Pakistan’s two most populous provinces, Punjab and Sindh, it stressed the need to mitigate the risk of the health system collapsing. More than one in five people have tested positive for COVID-19 over the last two weeks, compared with one in 10 before the lockdown was lifted, government statistics showed. “WHO strongly recommends the […]