COVID-19 positivity rate exceeds 22% in Karachi

KARACHI: Pakistan logged 382 daily COVID-19 infections on Monday as Karachi’s positivity rate surged to 22.65 — the highest in the country — during the past 24 hours, according to the statistics of the National Institute of Health (NIH).

In view of the recent spike in COVID-19 cases in the country, the health experts had warned that the surge in new infections may turn into the sixth wave of the pandemic.

In Karachi, 234 new infections were detected after 14,437 diagnostic tests were conducted over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Hyderabad reported 0.3% positivity rate, Mardan 2.44%, Islamabad 2.31%, Lahore 2.76%, Peshawar 3%, Sargodha 1.64% and Rawalpindi 1.05%.

In addition to this, Sindh’s overall positivity rate stands at 6.17%, Punjab’s 1.17%, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 1.15% and AJK’s 2.94, said the NIH.

As per the latest statistics of the NIH, two more people succumbed to the virus in the country during the past 24 hours.

The fresh infections — detected after diagnostic testing on 13,412 samples — took Pakistan's COVID-19 positivity rate to 2.85% and the total case count to over 1.53 million.

Meanwhile, 87 patients suffering from the disease are being treated in intensive-care units (ICUs), while two others succumbed to the virus, taking the country's COVID-19 death toll to 30,390.

With the fresh cases and deaths, Pakistan's number of active cases stands at 4,632.