Numbers continue to climb as third wave of pandemic surges across Pakistan

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s anti-pandemic strategy, reported 5,312 new Covid-19 cases on Friday as the number of active cases continue to climb during the third wave of the pandemic in Pakistan.

There are now a total of 69,811 active cases in Pakistan.

At least105 deaths were reported during the previous 24-hr period out of which 33 died on ventilators. Most of the deaths took place in Punjab followed by Kyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The highest number of ventilators are currently occupied in Gujranwala (88%), Multan (81%), Lahore (79%), and Bahawalpur (68%).

During the previous 24-hour period, at least 54,948 Covid tests were conducted nationwide on April 8 out of which 9,392 were conducted in Sindh, 25,871 in Punjab, 8,090 in KP, 8,711 in ICT, 1,257 in Balochistan, 467 in GB, and 1,160 in AJK.

According to NCOC's statistics, the total number of Covid-19 cases detected so far in Pakistan stand at 710,829 out of which 267,970 were in Sindh, 243,295 in Punjab, 96,128 in KP, 64,173 in ICT, 20,097 in Balochistan, 14,069 in AJK, and 5,097 in GB.

Total recoveries are at 625,780 individuals.

A day earlier, the government announced that the final phase of the ongoing vaccination campaign against coronavirus would be initiated after Eidul Fitr, covering people of every age group.

The vaccination campaign started in February with frontline health workers getting the jabs on a priority. In the next phase in March the government allowed vaccination of senior citizens or those over 60 years of age. Later the government lowered the age limit to 50 years.

Besides the government’s campaign of free vaccination, the private sector has also been allowed to import the doses.