National Covid positivity ratio crosses 4%

Govt warns Delta variant gaining ground, expects all to adhere to SOPs

ISLAMABAD:

The national Covid positivity ratio on Sunday rose to 4.09 per cent with the federal government announcing strict measures against violators of standard operating procedures (SOPs) in the wake of the Delta variant fuelling the fourth wave of the virus across the country.

Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar urged the citizens aged 50 years and above to get vaccinated to make themselves safe from the pandemic. In his tweet, the minister said Pakistan had 27.2 million people who were 50 years or older.

"This age group is the most vulnerable to serious health effects of Covid," he added.

Pakistan has 2 crore 72 lakh people who are 50 years or older. This age group is most vulnerable to serious health effect of covid. So far 56 lakh or 20.6% of these have gotten at least 1 dose of vaccine. Please encourage all in this age group to vaccinate as soon as possible.

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) July 11, 2021

Umar, who is also the head of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said so far, 5.6 million or 20.6 per cent of these had gotten at least one dose of the vaccine.

Read: Govt weighs fresh curbs to stem 4th Covid wave

"Please encourage all in this age group to get vaccinated as soon as possible," he added.

According to the NCOC daily update, the national tally of total active Covid-19 cases was recorded at 37,499 with 1,980 more people testing positive for the deadly virus and 908 people recovering from the disease. Seventy infected persons were admitted to hospitals in critical condition during the last 24 hours.

A total of 27 coronavirus patients died during the last 24 hours, 26 of whom were under treatment at hospitals and one in his respective home or quarantine facility.

Most of the deaths were reported from Sindh and followed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Out of the total 27 deaths, 16 were on ventilators.

There were 2,119 Covid-infected patients under treatment in critical condition and 70 of them were admitted to various Covid dedicated healthcare facilities of the country during the last 24 hours.

The Covid positivity ratio is the percentage of actual positive cases appearing in every 100 tests performed to identify infected individuals.

The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major cities including Islamabad 15 per cent, Lahore 17 per cent, Bahawalpur 18 per cent and Multan 13 per cent.

The maximum oxygen beds (alternate oxygen providing facility other than ventilator administered as per medical requirement of Covid patient) was also occupied in four major cities of Gilgit 36 per cent, Skardu 67 per cent, Karachi 32 per cent and Swabi 38 per cent.

Around 211 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country while no Covid-affected person was on ventilator in Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Some 48,382 tests were conducted across the country on Saturday, including 16,929 in Sindh, 17,062 in Punjab, 10,035 in K-P, 1,670 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 1,039 in Balochistan, 641 in G-B, and 1,006 in AJK.

Around 913,203 people recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan making it a significant count with over 90 per cent recovery ratio of the affected patients.

Read more: Clear signs of fourth Covid wave starting in Pakistan, says Umar

A total of 973,284 cases were detected that also included the perished, recovered and under treatment Covid-19 patients so far, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir 21,067, Balochistan 27,961, G-B 6,851, ICT 83,647, K-P 139,313, Punjab 348,085 and Sindh 346,360.

About 22,582 deaths were recorded in the country. Around 5,599 people perished in Sindh, 15 of them died in hospitals and one out of the hospitals in the past 24 hours.

Some 10,819 people died in Punjab with four deaths occurred in hospitals in the last 24 hours.

As many as 4,359 people expired in K-P, six of them died in hospitals, 783 individuals died in ICT, one of them expired in the hospital, 317 people died in Balochistan, 111 infected people perished in G-B and 594 people in AJK succumbed to the deadly virus.

A total of 15,056,787 corona tests have been conducted so far, while 639 hospitals are equipped with Covid facilities across the country. Some 2,390 corona patients were admitted to hospitals.