Pakistan reports 322 coronavirus cases, 4 deaths

ISLAMABAD: The COVID-19 has claimed four more lives in Pakistan during the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 28,898.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 322 more people were infected with the coronavirus.

Statistics 24 Dec 21:
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 47,811
Positive Cases: 322
Positivity %: 0.67%
Deaths : 4
Patients on Critical Care: 652

— NCOC (@OfficialNcoc) December 24, 2021

A total of 47,811 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, out of which 322 turned out to be positive, showing an infection rate of 0.67% as compared to yesterday’s 0.77 per cent.

At present, 652 critical patients have been admitted to hospitals across the country, the NCOC said.

On Thursday, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday authorized Merck’s Covid pill for high risk adults, a day after giving the green light to a similar pill by Pfizer.

“Today’s authorization provides an additional treatment option against the COVID-19 virus in the form of a pill that can be taken orally,” said FDA scientist Patrizia Cavazzoni.

The pill developed by Merck, which is known as MSD outside the US and Canada, is taken within five days of symptom onset and has been shown to reduce Covid hospitalizations and deaths by 30 percent among at-risk people.