Islamabad, Apr 9 (IANS): Urging people to maintain social distancing to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned that the situation in the country due to the pandemic could worsen in the days to come, it was reported on Thursday.

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.

Punjab province is the worst affected with 2,166 cases, while Sindh has the second highest at 1,128.