COVID-19: Pakistan records 63 deaths, 2,260 new cases in a day

ISLAMABAD: The statistics of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has shown that the coronavirus pandemic claims 63 more lives, whereas, 2,260 new infections were reported during the last 24 hours, ARY News reported on Saturday.

In the past 24 hours, 63 more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 9,816. 1,531 patients have recovered from the virus in a day and 2,357 patients are in critical condition.

The total count of active cases is 39,177.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), with fresh inclusion of the infections in the country the national tally of cases now currently stands at 469,482.

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A total of 36,909 tests were conducted across the country during this period. Overall 420,489 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far while 6,523,842 samples have been tested thus far.

As per NCOC statistics, 209,429 cases were reported in Sindh, 135,141 in Punjab, 56,875 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 18,061 in Balochistan, 39,981 in the federal capital Islamabad, 4,847 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 8,148 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

3,462 patients have died of coronavirus in Sindh, 3,858 in Punjab, 1,596 in KP, 404 in Islamabad, 181 in Balochistan, 101 in GB and 214 in AJK.

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A total of 316 COVID-19 patients are put on ventilators in different medical facilities across the country, whereas, 2,840 patients are currently admitted to 615 hospitals.

Earlier on Thursday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan had said that there was no evidence of new Covid-19 strain SARS-COV-II incidence in Pakistan.

Responding to claims attributed to Dr Atta-ur-Rehman who heads the prime minister’s task-force on science and technology, Dr Sultan had said Dr Rehman did not support his claims with evidence.

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He had said the medical sector is now replete with charlatans and quacks who believe in sham practices rather than scientific evidence. The SAPM had noted that the health department is searching for the evidence of whether the new strain has indeed landed in Pakistan.

There’s nothing we have to claim when we will get rid of this virus but with passing time it can be estimated that virus will go away. By the end of the year 2021 or even some more time, he said.

On the vaccine procurement, the health SAPM had said the country was striving for more than one kind of vaccines to end the pandemic curse in Pakistan.