50 more die as corona killing spree continues

ISLAMABAD: The national tally of active COVID-19 cases in Pakistan on Thursday reached 34,049 with 2,482 more people testing positive and 2,122 people recovering from the disease during 24 hours.

Fifty corona patients, of whom 45 were under treatment in hospital and five in their respective homes or quarantines, died on Wednesday, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). During the last 24 hours, most of the deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Sindh. It said out of the total 50 deaths, 27 patients died on the ventilator.

No affected person was on ventilator in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan (GB), while 315 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in Pakistan.

The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major areas including Multan 45 percent, ICT 42 percent, Bahawalpur 41 percent and Lahore 37 percent.

Oxygen beds were also occupied in four major areas as in ICT 30 percent, Karachi 34 percent, Peshawar54 percent and Multan 33 percent.

Some 40,509 tests were conducted across the country on Thursday, including 13,699 in Sindh, 15,562 in Punjab, 4,798 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 5,167 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 599 in Balochistan, 413 in GB, and 271 in AJK. Around 450,515 people have recovered so far across Pakistan making it a significant count with over 86 percent recovery ratio.

Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 495,075 cases have been detected including AJK 8,416, Balochistan 18,300, GB 4,874, ICT 38,687, KP 60,229, Punjab 142,835 and Sindh 221,734. Around 10,511 deaths have been recorded in the country since the eruption of the contagion including 3,653 in Sindh, 4,203 in Punjab, 1,702 in KP, 434 in ICT, 186 in Balochistan, 101 in GB and 232 in AJK.

A total of 6,964,337 corona tests have been conducted so far, while 626 hospitals are equipped with COVID facilities. Pakistan is expected to get the first COVID-19 vaccine shipment by the end of the current month, Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of National Health Services Dr Nausheen Hamid said on Thursday.

According to Radio Pakistan, Dr Hamid said the government was "urgently" drafting a database of all public and private medical workers to inoculate them in the first phase.