KARACHI: Pakistan continues to witness a surge in COVID-19 cases as the country lodged 435 fresh infections of the virus during the past 24 hours, as per the statistics issued by the National Institute of Health (NIH) on Saturday morning.
As per the details, the country’s positivity rate rose to 3.19% after 13,644 diagnostic tests were conducted during the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, one more patient succumbed to the virus during the same period.
Pakistan last reported over 400 cases on March 22, 2022 when 443 infections were detected in a single day.
"However, 87 patients remain in critical condition and are being treated in various hospitals across the country," the NIH stated.
COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 30,383 people in Pakistan so far. According to the government dashboard, the total number of cases in the country is 1,531,982.
In a letter to the Karachi and Hyderabad commissioners a day earlier, the Sindh health department expressed concerns about a sixth COVID-19 wave.
The health department directed the commissioners to ensure that COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) were strictly followed in the two cities.
Mask-wearing, social distancing, checking vaccination cards, and limiting public transportation occupancy to 70% are among the SOPs.
The health department is concerned about the spread of the COVID-19 subvariants BA-5 and BA-4.
More than 16,000 confirmed cases have been recorded in 75 countries so far this year, WHO said on Monday
Country's COVID-19 death toll rises to 30,467
WHO has declared the outbreak as a global health emergency
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will address a virtual press conference at 06:00 PST
The WHO's emergency committee twice met to examine the worsening monkeypox situation, with nearly 15,400 cases...
Three patients suffering from coronavirus succumb to the disease overnight, taking the country's COVID-19 death toll...