Pakistan coronavirus death toll mounts to 31, cases up to 2,291

ISLAMABAD: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 2,291 on Thursday after new infections were confirmed in the country, ARY News reported.

The national dashboard, maintained by the federal ministry of health, reported that seven more patients of coronavirus had passed away taking the nation-wide toll to 31.

The latest statistics of the national dashboard stated 9 patients remained in critical condition, while 107 patients recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Punjab has the highest number of infections up to 845 followed by Sindh with 743 patients. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) reported 276 cases, 187 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), 169 in Balochistan, 62 in Islamabad and 9 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

The country has recorded 76 new cases during the last 24 hours.

Extension in lockdown

Pakistan decided for extending its lockdown till April 14 to curb the spread of COVID-19 besides finalising a solid strategy to cope with the impact of the pandemic.

The decisions were taken in a session of National Coordination Committee held under the chair of Prime Minister Imran Khan to review the current situation of coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan.

It is decided to extend lockdown till April 14 besides finalising to hold consultations on April 5 to relax the restrictions in phases across the country.

Read: Pakistani nation always exhibits unity in a difficult time: PM Imran Khan

The session was attended by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, chief ministers, federal minister, special assistants and other high-level officers via video link.

It is pertinent to mention here that PM Khan has summoned NCC meeting again on Thursday (today) to review the further measures for containing the virus.

Global virus cases

A six-week-old baby died of COVID-19 and global agencies warned of food shortages as coronavirus infections around the world neared one million.

More than 900,000 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus and nearly 46,000 have died since it first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, according to an AFP tally.

Cases in the United States soared, rising to more than 213,000, the most anywhere in the world. The death toll in the US over the past 24 hours was a new one-day record of 884, and new known cases exceeded 25,000, according to a Johns Hopkins University database.