ISLAMABAD: The coronavirus has claimed 38 more lives and infected 1,329 during the past 24 hours across Pakistan.
According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), Pakistan reported 38 deaths by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 571,174. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 12,601 on Sunday.
Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad.
Up till now, 255,834 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 167,345 in Punjab 70,886 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 43,402 in Islamabad, 18,979 in Balochistan, 9,777 in Azad Kashmir and 4,951 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
Pakistan has so far conducted 8,435,098 coronavirus tests. More than 525,187 coronavirus patients have recovered in the country whereas 1,602 patients are in critical condition.
Earlier, Federal Minister for Planning and Development and Head of National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar had said the invention of the COVID-19 vaccine is no excuse for citizens to stop following standard operation producers (SOPs) and other safety steps to restrain the virus’s spread.
Talking to a private news channel, the NCOC head said that the vaccine would not resolve the issue and that implementation of safety measures was still necessary.
He said, “Pakistan is recording further new cases, as compared to the past few weeks, and that the increased pressure is upsetting the country’s health care system”.
Asad Umar said that the best way to fight the plague, in the given situation, is to make sure that we follow the standard operation procedures (SOPs) issued by the government to curtail the virus’s spread.
