Pakistan records 3,113 COVID-19 cases, 54 deaths in 24 hours: NCOC

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has recorded fresh 3,313 COVID-19 cases and 54 deaths due to the virus in the last 24 hours, ARY News reported on Friday.

In the past 24 hours, 54 more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 7,897. 1,489 patients have recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours and 2,112 patients are in critical condition.

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 389,311, whereas, the active cases stood at 45,533.

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A total of 43,214 tests were conducted across the country during this period. 335,881 people have recovered from the deadly disease while 5,386,916 samples have been tested thus far.

Earlier on Thursday, it emerged that Pakistan had decided to contact China for the availability of COVID-19 vaccine, sources told ARY News.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) will communicate with the Chinese government via the foreign ministry, sources in the knowledge of the matter, said.

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The health authorities in Islamabad will seek details of the expected vaccines being developed in China and also the details about the Chinese vaccine developing companies, CanSino Biologics and Sinopharm, the sources said.

Moreover, the price and the data of the clinical trials of the coronavirus vaccines would also be sought from the pharmaceutical companies.

It is pertinent to mention here that both the Chinese companies conducting phase three of clinical trials of their vaccines.