ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported less than 3,000 coronavirus cases in a day after almost two months, as 2,869 new infections were reported during the last twenty-four hours, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday.
Pakistan had reported 2,351 coronavirus cases on March 16, 2021. The country reported 2, 869 new infections on Tuesday, taking the total caseload to 867,426.
104 corona patients have died during the past 24 hours, 89 of whom were under treatment in hospital and 15 out of the hospital in their respective quarantines or homes, according to the latest update issued by the NCOC.
During the past 24 hours, most of the deaths have occurred in Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Out of the total 104 deaths that occurred in the last 24 hours 49 of them had died who were under treatment on ventilators.
According to figures provided by the NCOC, Pakistan carried out 38,616 coronavirus tests on Tuesday out of which 2,869 returned positive. The positivity ratio in Pakistan stands at 7.42 per cent. The current active cases of the country stand at 76,536 and 771,692 recoveries have so far been reported country-wide.
Punjab currently leads the provinces and federating units in most cases with 322,117, Sindh comes in second with 294,251 cases, KP has reported 125,392 cases, Islamabad 78,560 cases, Balochistan 23,655 cases, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 18,056 cases, and Gilgit-Baltistan 5,407 cases.
The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major areas including Lahore 63 per cent, Multan 73 per cent, Gujranwala 52 per cent and Peshawar 41 per cent.
The maximum Oxygen beds (alternate oxygen providing facility other than ventilator administered as per the medical requirement of Covid patient) was also occupied in four major areas of Gujranwala 64 per cent, Swabi 60 per cent, Peshawar 51 per cent and Multan 54 per cent.
Around 623 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country while no coronavirus patient was on a ventilator in AJK, GB and Balochistan.
At least 1,266 new coronavirus cases were recorded in Punjab during the past 24 hours, taking the provincial tally to 322,117.
According to the Punjab Primary and Secondary Health Care Department, at least 63 more patients succumbed to the pandemic as the total death count reached 9,188. The department added that at least 276,800 patients had recovered from the deadly virus as of yet, with 2,669 people recovered in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the number of new Covid-19 cases and deaths globally slightly decreased this week, with over 5.5 million cases and over 90 000 deaths. Case and death incidences, however, remain at the highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic. New weekly cases decreased in the regions of Europe and Eastern Mediterranean, while the South-East Asia Region continued an upward trajectory for nine weeks and reported a further 6 per cent increase last week.
Moreover, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has urged the government to provide the Shuhuda compensation package announced earlier to the families of healthcare workers, as the death toll of doctors who succumbed to the virus exceeded 200.
In a press statement on Wednesday, the PMA said that as of now, 202 doctors and 30 paramedics have passed away from the virus. Out of these, 74 doctors hailed from Punjab while 64 belonged to Sindh.
Among the doctors who passed away due to the coronavirus, 53 belonged to KP while 6 hailed from Balochistan, 3 from AJK and one doctor from GB.
Providing a further breakdown of the deceased healthcare workers’ professions, the PMA said among the frontline healthcare givers who had fallen to the infection, 24 were medical officers, 19 were general physicians and 13 were paediatricians.
Among them were nine who were professors of medicine while an equal number of ENT specialists also succumbed to the virus.
As per the PMA statement, the total number of healthcare workers who have passed away in Pakistan from the virus include seven gynaecologists, six pathologists and three postgraduate trainees as well.
The PMA said that among the deceased included 3 radiologists, two surgeons and an equal number of cardiologists. The association called upon the government to provide the compensation which was included in the Shuhuda package for healthcare workers to the families of the deceased, adding that they were frontline warriors in the battle against the pandemic.
