ISLAMABAD: COVID-19 cases continued to surge in the Federal Capital with 159 new reported during the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Tuesday.

According to an NCOC official, as many as 140 cases were reported on Monday and 212 on Sunday.

He said so far total 36,416 corona cases had been reported with 393 deaths from the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). Some 30,761 patients had recovered completely.

Meanwhile, on the direction of Ministry of National Health Services, the ICT district administration continued smart lockdown in different streets of the sectors to reduce transmission of the infection.

Its inspection teams also started taking actions on violation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) related with the corona while visiting marriage halls, markets and petrol pumps.

The administration also sealed schools, shops, workshops and restaurants on the SOPs' violation.

The inspection teams also issued notices to marriage hall owners, besides imposing fines on shopkeepers.

Commenting on the situation, an official of Ministry of National Health Services said several local level administrative decisions were taken to control the disease.

He advised the citizens to continue following social distancing, use of masks and other precautionary measures to stop increasing local transmission of COVID-19 in the city.

He said the government had adopted an effective strategy to combat COVID-19 that resulted reduction in corona cases in the country.

For the purpose the global information about the coronavirus was kept in view while focusing on data with integration of local data in a scientific way, he added.

The official said the ministry had also asked the administrations of public and private organizations functioning in the ICT to strictly ensure following of the SOPs by their staff.