By Uzma Zafar
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported 17 deaths in the last 24 hours as of Sunday by novel coronavirus, taking the nationwide tally of fatalities to 6,823.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 977 fresh infections emerged during this period, lifting the national tally of cases to 333,970. Around 27,655 samples were tested during last 24 hours across the country. There are a total of 12,592 active cases of the coronavirus as 314,555 patients have so far recuperated from the disease.
Thus far, Sindh has reported 145,851 cases, followed by Punjab reporting 104,271 cases while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 39,564, Balochistan 15,920, Islamabad 19,970, Gilgit Baltistan 4,261 and Azad Jammu and Kashmir 4,133.
648 of the patients under treatment in hospitals across the country are said to be in critical condition. On Saturday, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19 had decided to enlist the help of the public to enforce the government-defined SOPs to address the coronavirus pandemic.
Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar tweeted: “With the arrival of the 2nd wave & continued widescale violation of sop’s, NCOC has decided to seek citizens help for sop compliance.” The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has surpassed 46 million globally, with over 1.1 million fatalities and more than 30 million recoveries, according to the latest tally from Johns Hopkins University.
The Chinese mainland reported 24 confirmed cases on Saturday, including three local transmissions in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Xinjiang reported 61 new asymptomatic cases between late Friday and Saturday evening. The U.S. has registered over 230,000 deaths and more than 9 million infections both the highest in the world.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Saturday that England will enter a second national lockdown on Thursday as the UK has passed the grim milestone of 1 million coronavirus cases.
More than a million people were tested in Slovakia on Saturday as part of the country’s attempts to swab its entire population, defence minister Jaroslav Nad said. For a second day running anti-lockdown protestors clashed with police in Spain after the government imposed a six-month state of emergency earlier this week.
The trial into the 2015 Charlie Hebdo massacre in France has been postponed until Wednesday after the primary suspect, Ali Riza Polat tested positive.
