Pakistan’s total coronavirus infections breach 300,000 mark

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday recorded more than 500 confirmed cases of coronavirus once again while the country’s total infections breached the 300,000 mark as the country gears up to reopen educational institutions next week.

According to an update released by the National command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 548 more people tested positive for the deadly virus during the last 24 hours. Total active Covid-19 cases in Pakistan were 5,795. Five patients have died in hospitals.

Some 29,534 tests were conducted across the country — 13,049 in Sindh, 9,144 in Punjab, 2,914 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 3,372 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 379 in Balochistan, 318 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), and 358 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

Around 288,206 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan with a recovery ratio over 90 per cent.Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has mentioned Pakistan among a list of countries that the world can emulate in the fight against the coronavirus. WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a press briefing earlier this week remarked that Pakistan has used the infrastructure it developed in its fight against polio to tackle Covid-19.

The other countries mentioned by the WHO chief are Thailand, Italy, Mongolia, Mauritius, Uruguay. Former adviser to the prime minister on health Dr Zafar Mirza hailed the remarks by the WHO chief and said it is a “great honour” for the people of Pakistan. Mirza had supervised Pakistan’s Covid-19 response before resigning from the post in July.