ISLAMABAD: Asad Umar, the Federal Minister for Planning, stated on Friday that there are obvious early indicators of the fourth COVID-19 wave beginning in Pakistan, owing to a lack of standard operating procedures (SOPs) and the proliferation of the Delta version.

The federal minister, who is also the head of the country’s apex COVID-19 committee, claimed he had warned two weeks ago that the government’s artificial intelligence models indicated the 4th wave might appear in July.

According to him, there are already “obvious early indicators of the 4th wave commencing” in the nation as a result of “poor SOP compliance, coupled with the proliferation of concern variations, particularly the Indian variant [Delta variant], which are the major reason.”