-Aggregate confirmed cases exceed 195,000 as 82,000 recover after treatment
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday confirmed 148 deaths in a single day by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 192,970. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 3,903.
According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 4,044 persons have been tested positive for COVID-19 in 24 hours.
Province-wise Details
Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
Till now 74,070 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 71,191 in Punjab, 23,887 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 9,817 in Balochistan, 11,710 inIslamabad, 1,365 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 930 in Azad Kashmir.
Furthermore, 1,602 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab, 1,161 in Sindh, 869 in KP, 108 in Balochistan, 115 in Islamabad, 23 in GB and 25 in Azad Kashmir.
Patients are under treatment at quarantine centers of 462 hospitals where 7,295 beds are available.
Tests and Recoveries
Pakistan has so far conducted 1,171,976 coronavirus tests and 21,835 in last 24 hours. 81,307 coronavirus patients have recovered in the country whereas 3,003 patients are in critical condition.The capacity of holding coronavirus tests have reduced by 50% in Sindh as staffers responsible for conducting these tests in hospitals, laboratories and medical centres have drastically reduced after being infected from the COVID-19.
Due to less staff members available for coronavirus testing, the staffers available are facing difficulties in completing the backlog as the number of COVID-19 patients continue to surge across Sindh. About 13,890 tests were conducted on June 21, 9,841 tests were carried out on June 22 and the number was further reduced to only 6,597 tests on June 23.
The Sindh Health Department did not release the data on June 23, however, according to the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, about 7,400 tests were conducted in the province on June 24. Also read: Is Pakistan testing enough people for COVID-19?
As per the health department, thousands of test results were on hold in other laboratories including Civil, Jinnah, Ojha and Karachi University due to the shortage of medical staff. In addition, the home-based testing facility has been shut down since last week.
The number of coronavirus cases are increasing day by day in Sindh. So far, the total number of patients in the province total to 74,070, whereas 1,161 patients have succumbed to the virus in Sindh.Over 5,000 doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers have been infected by the deadly coronavirus to date in Pakistan, reveals official data.
According to the daily tally of the ministry of national health services, regulation and coordination, in Islamabad, a total of 5,164 healthcare providers have been sickened by the virus across Pakistan, as of June 24.
Majority of the infected medics have been reported from Pakistan’s northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, totaling 1,694. The second highest tally is from Sindh, 1,392, followed by Punjab, 1,099, Islamabad, 419, Balochistan, 391, Gilgit Baltistan, 95, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 74.
Of the 5,164 professionals who have tested positive, over 3,000 are doctors.
To date, 56 healthcare workers have also died after being infected, majority, 21 in Sindh, 13 in Punjab, 10 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5 in Balochistan, 4 in Islamabad and 3 Gilgit Baltistan.
