Covid data shows upward trajectory

After a few days of relatively lower figures, the daily coronavirus pandemic data showed a significant jump on Wednesday in both the single-day tally of fresh Covid cases and the death toll, according to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

The NCOC, the nerve centre of the government anti-Covid strategy, said 4,253 people tested positive for the virus during the last 24 hours at a national positivity ratio of 8.2%. The forum also said that 50 patients breathed their last in the 24 hours, which was the highest daily death toll since October last year.

The data showed a significant jump when compared with the figures released by the NCOC on Tuesday, which saw the single-day tally of fresh cases going below 3,000, while the national positivity ratio plunging to 5.3%. For the past few days, the daily death toll had been hovering above 30.

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Because of the declining cases, the NCOC decided on Monday to do away with the Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) for the inbound passengers and allowed increased capacity at stadiums for the remaining HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches.

At the same time, the NCOC has also stepped up the vaccination drive across the country. According to the NCOC, the administration of vaccine doses topped 190 million on Wednesday, with the administration of 2,067,967 doses in a single day.