Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported 5,857 new coronavirus infections during the last 24 hours, raising the total tally to 778,238 nationwide. According to the official data issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Thursday, 57,591 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, from which 5,857 tests returned positive, showing a positivity rate of 10.16 per cent. About 98 more succumbed to coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the country-wide death tally to 16,698. Most of the deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
Meanwhile, 3,986 patients recovered from the deadly disease in a day taking total recoveries to 676,605. According to NCOC, the total active Covid-19 cases across the country were reported to be 84,935. The NCOC data showed at least four Pakistani cities where ventilator occupancy rates had crossed 80 per cent as a third wave of Covid-19 sweeps through the country. The highest number of ventilators occupied in the country was found to be in Mardan with 100 per cent occupancy, followed by Gujranwala with 88 per cent occupancy, followed by Multan at 85 per cent and Lahore at 82 per cent. The NCOC further reported that the highest number of oxygen bed occupancy in the country was in Gujranwala at 85 per cent followed by Peshawar at 74 per cent, Nowshera at 67 per cent and Swabi at 67 per cent.
About 57,591 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours out of which 12,881 were conducted in Sindh, 28,829 in Punjab, 8,007 in KP, 5,344 in Islamabad, 1,096 in Balochistan, 565 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 725 tests were conducted in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Out of the total 16,698 reported deaths, there had been about 4,562 deaths in Sindh, 8,829 in Punjab, 2990 in KP, 649 in Islamabad, 226 in Balochistan, 104 deaths in GB and 423 deaths were reported in AJK.
