With 113 new deaths, coronavirus fatalities cross 18,000 mark in Pakistan

At least 113 more lost their lives to coronavirus in Pakistan, raising the total death tally to 18,070 nationwide on Sunday.

About 45,275 coronavirus tests were conducted in the country, out of which 4,414 came back positive, showed the data by National Command Operation Centre (NCOC). The positivity ratio was recorded at 9.74% in the country as of today.

The number of recoveries has reached 722,202 across the country so far. Moreover, the number of active cases in the country stands at 89,661 as of today.

The national death toll after the recent deaths stands at 18,070. Out of those,8,550 were residents of Punjab, 4,658 of Sindh, 3,350 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 691 of Islamabad, 237 of Balochistan, 107 of GB, and 477 of AJK.

Given the surge in cases, NCOC has decided to ban processions on Youm e Ali due to the worsening coronavirus situation in the country.

The decision was taken in an important meeting at the NCOC which was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Asad Umar.

"Keeping in view the risk factor due to the ongoing surge in COVID spread across the country and particularly in major urban centres, it was decided to ban all sort of processions while holding of Majalis has been permitted under strict COVID SOPs which are already in place for Ramazan ul Mubarik,” read the NCOC statement issued after the meeting yesterday.