Courtesy PID
Confirmed infections reach 700,188, against 620,789 recoveries and 15,026 deaths, leaving 64,373 active cases
Pakistan on Wednesday reported 4,004 new infections of the novel coronavirus after conducting 41,699 tests—a positivity ratio of 9.6 percent.
Planning Minister Asad Umar has announced that citizens who are aged 80 or older can avail an option to get vaccinated against the coronavirus at home. In a statement, he said the initiative was intended to provide relief to senior citizens who would face difficulty in reaching vaccination centers and waiting in queues—especially with the onset of summer. In a separate post on Twitter, he said that Pakistan had vaccinated 1 million people thus far.
Despite passing through two waves of COVID-19, Pakistan has yet to fully utilize its claimed testing capacity of 61,577, with daily testing significantly below numbers proposed by global health experts. According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan’s testing policies only record the most symptomatic patients—a belief substantiated by a Punjab government official as the “most efficient use of resources”—while ignoring the spread among asymptomatic carriers, which studies suggest comprise the majority of infections nationwide.
Confirmed Cases, Total – 700,188 (Tests: 10,535,061)
Punjab – 237,594
Sindh – 267,238
Balochistan – 19,942
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa – 93,862
Islamabad – 62,775
Gilgit-Baltistan – 5,064
Pakistan-administered Kashmir – 13,713
Deaths – 15,026
Recoveries – 620,789
In the 24 hours preceding 8 a.m., Wednesday, Pakistan’s confirmed cases climbed to 700,188. Meanwhile, deaths increased by 102 to 15,026. At the same time, recoveries increased by 2,631 to 620,789, or 88.7 percent of total infections. There are currently 64,373 active cases of COVID-19 in the country, with the NCOC saying 3,769 of them are in critical condition.
Punjab
On Wednesday, authorities reported 56 deaths due to the coronavirus, raising total casualties to 6,731. The province now has 237,594 confirmed cases; it reported 2,025 new infections after conducting 17,290 tests, a positivity ratio of 11.71 percent. There were 856 new recoveries recorded, leaving 197,841 fully recovered, and 33,022 active cases of the virus.
Sindh
Confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Sindh have now climbed to 267,238; it reported 312 new infections on Wednesday after conducting 6,778 tests, a positivity ratio of 4.6 percent. The province reported 6 new deaths, raising toll to 4,516, while its recoveries rose by 116 to 257,013. Overall, the province now has 5,709 active cases of the novel coronavirus.
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa
In the past 24 hours, the provincial government recorded 829 new infections after conducting 8,019 tests, a positivity ratio of 10.34 percent. Overall, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s confirmed cases have climbed to 93,862. It recorded 27 new deaths and 1,318 recoveries, raising toll to 2,496 and recoveries to 80,348. There are currently 11,018 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.
Balochistan
The province on Wednesday raised its confirmed cases to 19,942 with 87 new infections after conducting 1,301 tests, a positivity ratio of 6.67 percent. There was 1 death and 37 recoveries in the past 24 hours, leaving 212 fatalities and 19,222 fully recovered. There are now 508 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.
Federal Areas
Islamabad on Wednesday raised its confirmed coronavirus cases by 564 to 62,775 after conducting 6,722 tests; a positivity ratio of 8.39 percent. There were 4 deaths and 225 recoveries in the past 24 hours, leaving 588 casualties; 50,064 recovered; and 12,123 active cases.
Gilgit-Baltistan reported 3 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday after conducting 411 tests, a positivity ratio of 0.73 percent; it now has 5,064 confirmed cases. The region reported no new deaths and 2 recoveries, leaving 103 fatalities and 4,892 fully recovered people. There are currently 69 active cases of COVID-19 in the region.
In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, confirmed cases rose by 86 to 13,713 after conducting 1,178 tests, a positivity ratio of 7.3 percent. There was 1 death and 66 recoveries in the past 24 hours, leaving 380 fatalities and 11,409 fully recovered. It now has 1,924 active cases of COVID-19.
Global situation
Globally, the virus has now infected more than 133,030,082 people, with over 2,886,114 reported deaths. After a devastating first wave, the world is now slowly recovering from a second wave of the coronavirus, aided in part by the launch of vaccination campaigns. Overall, around 107,268,888 patients of the 133 million+ infected have recovered thus far.