ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday appealed to opposition for suspending its anti-government rallies due to rising cases of coronavirus cases in the country.

The premier expressing his view following a meeting of the NCOC, flanked by his team members, said that opposition should delay its public gathering for two or three months as coronavirus cases could shoot up due to such events.

His appeal comes ahead of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Lahore power show scheduled to be held on December 13 against the PTI government.

The premier said that such rallies did not pose any threat to the government but could put the lives of people on risk.

Revealing the fallout of PDM’s Multan rally, he said that 64 percent beds in hospitals are filled following the opposition’s event in Multan.

He warned that negligence could deteriorate the situation in the country, putting burden on hospitals and health officials.

Saying the virus is spreading rapidly in the country again, he revealed that COVID-19 patients have already taken up around 40 percent beds in country’s hospitals.

Urging public to use face mask, he stressed on strict implementation of SOPs to cope with the second wave of the pandemic in the country.

Pakistan has reported 56 coronavirus deaths and 3,138 new positive cases in one day.

According to National Command and Control Center (NCOC), around 3,138 cases of coronavirus were reported while 56 people succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the total death toll to 8,603.

The total number of confirmed cases reached to 429,280.

As many as 374,301 patients have recovered from the disease while more than 2,575 reported to be in critical condition.