ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported another 5,152 cases and 73 deaths from the novel coronavirus on Sunday, as the situation remains precarious under the third wave of the pandemic.
This comes a day after Pakistan reported 149 deaths from the coronavirus on Sunday, making it the country’s highest death toll in a single day this year. More than a hundred deaths were reported in Punjab which remains the worst affected from the virus.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Pakistan reported 5,152 coronavirus cases in the past day as the total number of cases surged to 761,437. There were another 73 deaths from the virus, taking the death toll to 16,316.
The total number of active cases has been steading rising and has surged to 82,276 while the positivity rate stood at 8.56 percent. There are patients who remain in critical condition in hospital across the country.
There were 60,162 coronavirus detection tests conducted in the past day, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 11.2 million since the first case was reported. Overall 662,845 people have recovered from the virus including 3,362 in past day.
Punjab remain the worst affected area with 44,799 active cases. There have been 270,338 cases and 7,457 deaths in the province so far. Islamabad has recorded 70,079 cases and 642 deaths while there are 12,632 active cases in the federal capital.
The number of coronavirus cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have reached 106,500 and 2,899 deaths while there are 13,614 active cases in the province. Sindh has recorded 272,729 cases and 4,553 deaths while Balochistan has recorded 20,940 cases and 223 deaths.
Amid the worsening condition, the NCOC has decided that all educational institutions in high positivity districts will remain closed till Eid-ul-Fitr across the country.
A special session of the NCOC on education was held virtually chaired by Minister for Federal Education Shafqat Mahmood. It was decided that Classes 9 to 12 to be re-opened from today on gradual basis to prepare students for board exams.
The forum also decided that A, AS and O level exams will be held as per schedule and national board exams to be held as per new schedule. However, educational institutes for Grade 1 to 8 will remain closed.
