ISLAMABAD — Pakistani authorities on Monday imposed a partial lockdown in several more high-risk areas in the capital, Islamabad, and elsewhere in the country after the positivity rate from coronavirus infections jumped to over 11%.

Pakistan is facing another surge in coronavirus infections which officials say is worse than last year’s outbreak when Pakistan had to impose a nationwide lockdown.

On Monday, authorities in the eastern Punjab province also announced a two-week long partial lockdown in high-risk cities from April 1 in an effort aimed at containing the spread of the virus.

So far, Pakistan's government has avoided a nationwide lockdown to spare the country’s ailing economy from more damage.

On Monday, Pakistan reported 41 additional deaths and 4,525 coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.

Pakistan has reported 659,116 cases in total, and 14,256 deaths, since last year.