Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday, Khan said: "It is a misconception that this pandemic is sprea­ding slowly in the country as the number of our deaths has been low so far and it will not spread rapidly; it will become worse in the days to come."

 

"If we don't take preventive measures, the deadly disease will rise in the country like it did in Europe and will create a lot of trouble for us," the Prime Minister said, adding that people had to adopt social distancing by themselves as lockdown was not a solution and the government and police could not keep people in their homes by force.

 

He warned that if people did not do self-social distancing, the deadly virus would spread at a faster rate and put burden on the healthcare system.

 

"Pakis­tan cannot afford a complete lockdown, which was imposed in China or Euro­pean countries, and I ask people to take precautionary measures to curb the spread of the virus."

 

As of Thursday, the confirmed number of cases in the country increased to 4,409 with 64 deaths.