3,795 COVID-19 cases, 37 deaths reported in 24 hours: NCOC

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has recorded 3,795 new cases and 37 deaths due to the COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, ARY News reported on Monday.

In the past 24 hours, 37 more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 8,398. 1,530 patients have recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours and 2,539 patients are in critical condition including 103 reported within a day.

The total count of active cases is 55,354 and the positivity rate of COVID-19 cases reaches up to 9.7 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 420,294.

A total of 39,076 tests were conducted across the country during this period. Overall 356,542 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far while 5,794,242 samples have been tested thus far.

Read: Russia offers Pakistan its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine

Earlier on Sunday, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had said that the coronavirus vaccine is likely to be available in Pakistan in February or March next year.

Talking exclusively to ARY News program Sawal Yeh Hai, Dr Faisal Sultan said that the vaccine to be administered to people in phases, adding that the COVID-19 vaccine, in the first phase, will be administered to health professionals.

The federal cabinet had allocated funds for the vaccine, he said and added that they will finalize a suitable coronavirus vaccine within the next few weeks.

The COVID-19 vaccine imported by the government will be provided free of cost to the people, said Faisal Sultan.

It is pertinent to mention here that with countries world over scrambling to buy coronavirus vaccines that have been found to be effective at preventing the infection, Russia had offered to supply its Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine to Pakistan.