ISLAMABAD: The nation recorded 100 deaths from coronavirus over the past 24 hours for a second consecutive day during the ongoing third wave of the pandemic, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) said on Saturday.
The nation had registered 103 deaths on April 5, 102 on April 6, and 105 on April 9, which were the record numbers since December last year.
With fresh fatalities, the nationwide death toll reached to 15,329.
Meanwhile, the government portal reported 5,139 new infections of the coronavirus after conducting 49,069 tests, receiving back a positivity rate of 10.47 per cent. It was the third day in a row, in which the country reported more than 5,000 cases.
The new cases pushed the total caseload to 715,968.
Some 627,561 patients have so far recovered, whereas the number of active cases reached to 73,078. The country recovery ratio dropped from 95 per cent to 87.7 per cent while the fatality ratio also increased to 2.1 per cent, according to the data.
Meanwhile, the total number of coronavirus patients in Sindh has reached to 268,284 while 4,523 people have died in the province so far.
The total number of coronavirus patients in Punjab is 245,923 and 6,908 people have died due to the virus, while the total number of patients in Balochistan is 20,178 and the death toll is 213.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the number of coronavirus patients have been recorded at 97,318 with 2,586 deaths while in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), 5,103 cases have been reported while 103 people have lost their lives to the disease.
According to the portal, the total number of coronavirus patients in Islamabad is 64,902 and 601 patients have died from the virus so far.
NCOC EXTENDS CURBS TILL APRIL 13:
Meanwhile, owing to the ongoing third wave, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided to extend restrictions in place till April 13 to stem the spread of the deadly virus.
A meeting of the NCOC was held under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Planning Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, during which the inoculation campaign in Ramazan was discussed.
It was decided that another meeting will be called on Monday, during which ways would be discussed to implement the restriction in letter and spirit.
The meeting was informed that a large quantity of coronavirus vaccine would reach Pakistan by mid-April.
Earlier this week, Asad had announced to start vaccinating the general public after Eidul Fitr. In his conversation with reporters, the minister had said that the next five to six weeks would be “critical” for the third wave of infections.
The government had launched the vaccination for the general public in March, starting with older people. It is currently offering free doses to frontline healthcare workers and people over the age of 50, but the drive has thus far been slow.
On March 12, Asad had confirmed that the third wave of Covid-19 had started in Pakistan, attributing the rising number of cases to the virus’ UK strain.
“Yes, there is no doubt that the third wave has started and basically, the phenomena that’s driving it is the spread of the UK strain,” Umar had said while talking to a private news channel.
The country has been undergoing smart lockdowns in all the applicable localities that report an increase in cases with authorities urging citizens to practice all necessary SOP’s including sanitizing one’s hands and wearing mandatory face masks.
In his talk, Umar had also noted with concern that the number of intensive care unit (ICU) patients in the country was higher than during the first wave. “Strict enforcement of SOPs [standard operating procedures] can bring down the rising rate of infection,” he had stressed.
