ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded more than five thousand cases for the third consecutive day while over a hundred people lost their lives from the novel coronavirus in the past day.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), there were new coronavirus 5,139 cases and 100 deaths from the disease in the past day. Yesterday Pakistan reported 5,312 new cases and 5,329 a day earlier.
The total number of cases recorded so far reached 715,968 cases while the death toll has reached 15,329. The total number of active cases has increased to 73,078 while the positivity rate stood at 10.47 percent. The number of critical patients who remain in in hospitals has also increased to 4,204 including 88 in the past day.
There were 49,069 coronavirus detection tests conducted in the past day, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 10.688 million since the first case was reported. Overall 627,561 people have recovered from the virus including 1,772 in past day.
Punjab continues to remains the worst affected area with more than half of the active cases. There have been 245,923 cases recorded so far and 6,908 deaths while there are 38,870 active cases in the province. Islamabad has recorded 69,902 cases and 601 deaths while there are 13,063 active cases in the region.
The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded 97,318 cases and 2,586 deaths while there are 12,253 active cases. Sindh has recorded 268,284 cases and 4,523 deaths.
Amid the intensifying third wave, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has granted Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to another Chinese vaccine CoronaVac.
This is the fifth coronavirus vaccine and the third Chinese vaccine to be approved for use in the country. Pakistan has granted authorization to China’s two-dose Sinopharm and single-dose Convidecia vaccine developed by the Cansino Biologicals Inc. UK’s AstraZeneca and Russian Sputnik V vaccines have also been approved by the DRAP.
The CoronaVac vaccine has a lower efficacy rate but was allowed by health authorities amid the intensifying third wave of the pandemic. It is a traditional vaccine and can be stored at 2-8°C making it ideal for countries like Pakistan without ultra-cold chain refrigerators.
The phase III clinical trials of a triple-dose Chinese vaccine, developed by the Anhui Zhifei Longcom Biopharmaceutical Company Ltd, are also underway in Lahore, Faisalabad, and other cities of Pakistan.
