Pakistan reports 1,579 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours

Pakistan's coronavirus tally jumped to 587,014 on Friday after 1,579 new cases were reported during the past 24 hours.

Currently, there are 17,117 active coronavirus cases in the country. During the last 24 hours, 37,998 people were tested for the novel virus across the country. So far, 9,135,393 people have been tested for the virus out of which 587,014 people have tested positive.

The country's death toll also climbed to 13,128 on Friday, after the virus claimed 52 more lives. Rawalpindi and Islamabad reported the highest deaths since December after nine people died in Pindi.

Moreover, more than 1,500 people also recovered across the country in the last 24 hours. Pakistan has reported 556,769 recoveries so far.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Medical Association, a representative body of health professionals, has urged the government to immediately impose coronavirus restrictions to avoid chances of a third wave. The NCOC had eased the restrictions on February 24.

“The incubation period of virus is around seven days, so cases started increasing one week after lifting the restrictions and we fear that cases may further increase in coming days if the masses don’t strictly adhere to the SOPs," an official of the Ministry of National Health Services told DAWN.