Critically ill coronavirus patients in Pakistan 57% more than last June: Asad Umar

The total number of critically ill coronavirus patients on oxygen has reached 5,360 in Pakistan, National Command and Operation Centre head Asad Umar said on Twitter Friday.

He said this figure is 57% more than the peak last June. "Alhamdulillah have so far managed to cope with this huge increase because of proactively building capacity of the entire system from oxygen production to beds," he said.

Umar gave an update on the production and availability of oxygen in Pakistan.

He said Pakistan's total oxygen production operational capacity last year was 487 tons per day. This has increased to 798 tons per day. Oxygen production has gone up from 465 tons per day last June to 725 tons currently. The country also imported 19,200 oxygen cylinders last year to ensure distribution.

Umar reiterated the need to follow coronavirus standard operating procedures and said the "next few weeks are critical"

Coronavirus situation in Pakistan

As many as 131 more people lost their lives to coronavirus in Pakistan in the last 24 hours as the country continues its fight against the third wave of the pandemic.

Latest data issued on Friday by the NCOC showed that 5,112 new coronavirus cases have been reported after 49,099 tests  were conducted.

The positivity ratio remained 10.41%.

Earlier this week, Pakistan reported the highest single-day death toll recorded since the pandemic started last year with over 200 new fatalities.