COVID-19 claims 56 more lives in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has recorded 56 deaths and 3,138 new cases due to the COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, ARY News reported on Thursday.

In the past 24 hours, 56 more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 8,603. 2,030 patients have recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours and 2,575 patients are in critical condition including 77 more declared critical.

The total count of active cases is 46,376 and the positivity rate was recorded up to 7.8 per cent.

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 429,280.

A total of 40,202 tests were conducted across the country during this period. Overall 374,301 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far while 5,906,146 samples have been tested thus far.

Read: COVID-19 vaccines to be administered in three phases: sources

Amid a surge in Covid-19 cases and fatalities, Prime Minister Imran Khan convened a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) today to review the coronavirus situation in the country.

The premier will be briefed by the  National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on the coronavirus situation.

Important decisions, including imposing smart lockdowns would be taken.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar had warned of imposing tougher restrictions if violations of coronavirus standard operating procedure (SOPs) continues amid the second Covid-19 wave.

Speaking to the media after a meeting of the NCOC, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar warned Covid-19 cases will go up if health guidelines are not adhered to, piling pressure on hospitals.