Coronavirus claims 161 more lives, infects 3,377 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The coronavirus has claimed 161 more lives and infected 3,377 during the past 24 hours in Pakistan on Tuesday.

The health authorities reported 161 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases surged to 837,523. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 18,310.

According to the latest figures issued by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) 3,377 persons were tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours.

Pakistan has conducted 37,587 tests in the past 24 hours out of which 3,377 persons were tested positive for the disease. The COVID Positivity Ratio was recorded at 8.98 percent.

Punjab remains the worst-hit province in terms of deaths and cases followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

So far 8,683 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab 4,678 in Sindh, 3,423 in KP, 693 in Islamabad, 487 in Azad Kashmir, 239 in Balochistan, and 107 in GB.

Moreover, 308,529 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Punjab, 286,521 in Sindh, 120,590 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 76,492 in Islamabad, 22,664 in Balochistan, 17,397 in Azad Kashmir and 5,330 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

After an incessant rise in coronavirus cases for three months, a downward tendency was finally witnessed on Monday as both the positivity ratio and the number of cases turn down.

Although, health experts believed that the country has been facing a situation similar to that of last Ramadan and the number of cases could increase again if people violated the coronavirus-related SOPs as they did during the Eid holidays in 2020.

On Monday, Special Assistant on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan said the vaccination of people aged above forty years has been started from today (Monday) as he urged them to get vaccinated.

While briefing media, he said 150,000 vaccines are being administered on daily basis and our target is to increase it to 300,000 per day. He said the government has pursued a well-thought strategy to procure the vaccine and so far deals for 30 million doses have been signed. He expressed satisfaction and said 19 million doses will be received by June this year. 

Dr Faisal Sultan clarified the government is not relying on donations and 90 percent of the vaccine doses are being purchased. He said that 70 million people will be vaccinated by the end of this year. He urged the people to continue to observe the SOPs enforced to check the spread of the virus.

The special assistant said that local filling of single-dose CanSino vaccine is about to begin in the country. He said that three million doses of this vaccine will be prepared at the National Institute of Health per month which will reduce dependence on the imported doses.