ISLAMABAD: The number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan crossed 600,000 mark on Friday following detection of 2,701 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. The daily data issued by National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) revealed that countrywide 2,701 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours taking the countrywide tally of positive cases to 600,198.

According to NCOC, the country in past 24 hours also recorded 54 coronavirus deaths, which took the national Ccovid-19 deaths to 13,430. Sindh is the most affected province with 260,661 Covid-19 cases followed by Punjab with 182,576 cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with 75,052 cases, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) with 46,963 cases, Balochistan with 19,171 cases, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) with 10,816 cases and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) with 4,959 cases.

On account of coronavirus deaths, Punjab is the worst-hit area with 5,698 Covid-19 deaths, followed by Sindh with 4,452 deaths, KP with 2,138 deaths, ICT with 520 deaths, AJK with 317 deaths, Balochistan with 202 deaths and GB with 103 deaths.

The rise in the number of cases would be alarming for policy makers since it was only a month ago when Pakistan had crossed 500,000 mark. On the other hand, the total active coronavirus cases stood at 18,703, while 568,065 people have recovered in Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021