Pakistan sees highest ever number of Covid patients in critical care

National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) chief Federal Minister Asad Umar said on Sunday that Pakistan's tally for critical Covid patients reached 3,568 yesterday, the highest the country has seen so far.

"This is the highest number since Covid started," the minister said, expressing his concern on Twitter.

Cautioning the masses, Umar further said that there was a need for strong enforcement of Covid SOPs.

Read Asad Umar backs Sindh’s Covid restrictions

"Please take precautions and cooperate with administration in their enforcement efforts," the minister requested to the public.

NCOC stats

As per the statistics issued by the National Command and Operation Centre on Sunday, Punjab again recorded the highest number of Covid-19 deaths over the last 24 hours, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

Pakistan recorded at least 81 more fatalities on Saturday, out of which 49 occurred in Punjab, whereas K-P recorded 23 deaths. The country's death toll has now reached 14,778.

The country's nerve centre for Covid-19 response added that the total number of active cases in the country currently stood at 60,072, with at least 5,020 cases recorded in the last 24 hours.

According to the NCOC, about 55,605 tests were conducted across the country on April 3, of which 5,020 came out positive, taking the country’s tally for cases so far reported to 687,908.

Deaths

Out of the total number of deaths, 6,572 deaths have occurred in Punjab, 4,509 in Sindh, 2,440 in K-P, 579 in Islamabad, 211 in Balochistan, 364 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and 103 in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).

The NCOC stated that of the 81 fatalities reported on April 3, three were reported in Sindh, 49 in Punjab, 23 in K-P, five in Islamabad and one in AJK.

Recoveries

Moreover, the total number of patients to have recovered across the country stood at 613,058.

Pakistan has so far conducted about 10,403,335 Covid-19 tests. There are about 631 hospitals with Covid-19 facilities and around 4,288 patients admitted across the country.

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Third wave

On March 12, Federal minister and NCOC chief Asad Umar confirmed that the third wave of Covid-19 had started in Pakistan, attributing the rising number of cases to the virus' UK strain.

"Yes, there is no doubt that the third wave has started and basically, the phenomena that's driving it is the spread of the UK strain," Umar said while talking to a private news channel

When asked whether a third wave of the virus has started with the surge in the cases, Umar said that the uptick in cases was witnessed in districts where a large portion of the Pakistan British community lives.