Single-day Covid tally hits two-month low

The single-day tally of new Covid-19 cases fell below 500 for the first time since September 9, as the national positivity ratio remained lower than 2% for the past two weeks, the official data issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed on Monday.

The NCOC, which serves as the nerve centre of the government unified anti-Covid strategy, said that 482 people tested positive during the past 24 hours, while 1,024 people recovered from the contagious disease. It added that the national positivity ratio was 1.18%.

The forum said that 6 patients, two of them in hospitals, and four at homes or in quarantine died during the last 24 hours. Most of the deaths occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) followed by Punjab, it added.

According to the data, the national tally of active Covid cases plummeted to 22,545. It was for the first time that the number of active cases fell below 23,000 in more than seven-and-a-half months.

Among the active cases, 1,394 patients were admitted to various Covid-dedicated healthcare facilities across the country. The forum said that 1,338 patients were under treatment in critical condition, including 166 on ventilators.

As of Monday, the national caseload of the disease rose to 1,273,560, including 1,222,559 recoveries. The nationwide death toll from the disease also rose to 28,456, according to the NCOC daily update.

Meanwhile, the drive to inoculate the entire population against Covid-19 continued across the country besides implementation of instructions regarding unvaccinated individuals.

No unvaccinated person is being served certain essential services, like travelling, shopping and education in the country.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Dr Faisal Sultan said on Monday that almost 26% of the adult population of the country was fully vaccinated while another 20% was partially vaccinated.

Talking to a private news channel, the de facto health minister of the country added that half of the population was still behind vaccination, which needed to cooperate with the government.

“The government is confident of meeting an ambitious target of vaccine doses by the end of the year.”

Authorities had administered at least 103,514,198 doses of Covid vaccines so far. During the last week, Pakistan averaged about 621,689 doses each day, according to the available data.

Dr Sultan appealed to the nation to remain vigilant against the virus, despite its declining trend in recent weeks.

(WITH INPUT FROM AAP)