Single-day Covid tally surges past 2,000

Nearly three-fourths of new Covid infections were reported from Sindh

ISLAMABAD:

The single-day tally of fresh Covid cases surged past 2,000 for the first time since September as the fifth wave of the global pandemic, driven by the Omicron variant spread fast across the country, according to the data issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday.

The NCOC, which serves as the nerve centre of the government’s unified effort to contain the spread of coronavirus, said in its daily update that 2,074 people tested positive for the infectious disease during the past 24 hours. It was the highest single-day tally since 2,060 cases were reported on September 24, 2021.

The death toll from the disease which had remained single-digit for the past several weeks also went into double-digit. Also, the national positivity ratio also rose to 4.7%. while 446 patients recovered from the disease during the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,259,699.

Covid claims 9 more lives as Omicron positivity hits 20%

Nearly three-fourths of the new Covid infections were reported from Sindh, which makes the province the new hotspot of the pandemic. According to the NCOC, the province reported 1,402 cases and 9 deaths during the last 24 hours.

There were 445 new cases and 2 deaths in Punjab; 52 cases and 2 deaths in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P); 165 cases in Islamabad; 3 in Balochistan and 7 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). According to the forum, there was no new Covid case and fatality in Gilgit Baltistan.

The number of active cases crossed 20,000, of whom 628 were in critical condition, the forum said. It added that 826,996 anti-Covid jabs were administered across Pakistan in the last 24 hours, taking the total administered doses of the vaccine to 164,475,652.

(WITH INPUT FROM NEWS DESK)