4th wave: Active Covid-19 cases reach three-month high as Delta variant takes toll

Pakistan's total number of coronavirus active cases climbed to 84,427 on August 9, the highest since May 4, as the country battles the surge in infections mainly driven by the highly-transmissible Delta variant.

As the fourth wave continued in the country, the active number of cases has jumped from 30,000 reported on June 29 to over 80,000 in August. The rapid spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19 has pushed the death toll to cross 24,000 after 86 people succumbed to the novel virus during the last 24 hours.

Overall, there are 4,530 critical cases out of which 725 patients' condition has deteriorated in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the country reported less than 4,000 cases after nearly a week.

During the last 24 hours, 3,884 people tested positive for the novel virus after 49,506 tests were conducted nationwide.

Pakistan's Covid-19 positivity shoots past 9% as country tackles 4th wave

Pakistan has reported a total of 1,075,504 infections since the outbreak began. Overall, Sindh province remained the most affected region with 401,790 infections, followed by Punjab (365,824), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (149,056), Islamabad (91,217) Balochistan (31,234), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (27,507) and Gilgit Baltistan (8,876).

The country's positivity ratio came down to below 8% for the second consecutive day. During the last 24 hours, the positivity ratio stood at 7.84%.

The United States, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), also donated one million Covid-19 antigen rapid diagnostic tests to Pakistan on Monday.

US donates 1m rapid Covid kits to Pakistan

“This donation delivers on President Joe Biden’s promise to stand with the people of Pakistan in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” USAID Mission Director Julie A. Koenen said.

Koenen further said that these rapid test kits will help Pakistan to more quickly detect and diagnose the coronavirus.

As Pakistan continues to pace up its vaccination drive, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan has said that people can get the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine anytime after the minimum time interval has passed.

Do not need to wait for reminder SMS to get 2nd vaccine dose: SAPM on health

In a tweet on Monday, Sultan explained that people do not need to wait for the reminder message from 1166, which comes after six weeks for Sinopharm and Sinovac, and after 12 weeks for AstraZeneca.

The minimum time to wait for those getting Sinopharm is three weeks while for Sinovac and AstraZeneca it is four weeks, Dr Sultan said.