Pakistan sees minor decline in daily COVID-19 cases

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan registered a minor decline in daily COVID-19 infections while the positivity rate dropped to 1.55% in a single day, data from the National Institute of Health showed Wednesday.

The country reported 236 new COVID-19 cases overnight, official data issued by NIH showed. Meanwhile, 226 people recovered in the last 24 hours.

However, no death from the infection was reported in the last 24 hours. Out of the 10,294 patients undergoing treatment for coronavirus in hospitals, quarantine centres, on ventilators and at homes across the country, 152 are in critical condition, while 1.53 million patients have recovered so far.

In the last 24 hours, 452,990 people across Pakistan have been vaccinated against coronavirus.

Experts blame two sub-variants of the Omicron variant, namely BA.4 and BA.5, for the rise in COVID-19 cases in Pakistan, saying that they have escape mutations that are giving them an edge.

They say the sub-variants have also been infecting people who are already vaccinated or have already been infected with COVD-19, but no evidence is available to show if they are causing any severe disease among the vaccinated people.