Covid-19 situation worsens as Pakistan reports highest number of daily cases since May 21

Karachi: Pakistan reported 3,752 coronavirus cases during the last 24 hours, the highest number of daily infections since May 21 when 4,007 infections were recorded.

For the past few weeks, Pakistan has continued to witness a surge in coronavirus cases amid fears of the spread of the Delta variant. Tests conducted in the last 24 hours also show the national positivity rate to have jumped to 7.51%, the highest in over two months. On May 20, the national positivity rate was recorded at 8.22%.

Earlier in March, the Covid positivity rate rose to above 10%. In April, it gradually declined and reached 8%. Then again, the positivity rate started declining and in May it was reported lower than seven percent.

However, in July, the positivity level has started increasing.

On Sunday, Pakistan's Covid-19 death toll also crossed 23,000. The virus claimed 32 more lives in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 23,048.

Pakistan has lowest deaths per million from Covid in region: Umar

Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, while urging people to follow SOPs and get vaccinated, also said that the rate of coronavirus deaths per million population in Pakistan is the lowest in the region. The minister said that Covid-19 deaths per million in Pakistan is 102, which is the lowest when compared with Iran (1,037), Nepal (326), India (301), Sri Lanka (186), Afghanistan (160) and Bangladesh (113).

"Timely decisions, hard work, cooperation of people & blessings of Allah made this possible. Risk is not over. Follow sop's & vaccinate," the Umar tweeted on Saturday.

Meanwhile, 49,947 people were tested across the country for Covid-19 during the last 24 hours Of these, 3,752 came out positive, taking the national tally to 1,008,446. There are 57,799 active cases in the country.

Pakistan reports 2,545 Covid-19 cases in a single day, highest since May 29

Moreover, the country reported 1,641 more recoveries, taking the total number to 927,599.

Pakistan has successfully vaccinated over 25 million people against the novel coronavirus as the government looks to increase the pace of its inoculation drive. “Total vaccinations carried out so far now exceed two and a half crores. The total number of people vaccinated has now crossed 2 crores,” Umar announced on Sunday.

In addition to making Covid-19 vaccination certificates mandatory for domestic flights from August 1, official quarters have also warned of blocking mobile phone numbers and National Identity Cards (NIC) if citizens do not get their inoculations registered.