ISLAMABAD: Pakistan crossed the grim milestone of 20,000 deaths due to coronavirus after 102 people passed away due to complications related to the virus in the past 24 hours.
The national tally on Friday of total active Covid-19 cases was recorded at 6,229 with 3,070 more people testing positive for the deadly virus, and 6,021 people recovering from the disease during the last 24 hours.
102 coronavirus patients died during the past 24 hours, 89 of whom were under treatment in hospitals and 13 in their respective quarantines or homes, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre.
During the past 24 hours, most of the deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Out of the total 102 deaths that occurred in the last 24 hours, 50 of them were on ventilators.
There were 4,424 Covid infected patients under treatment in critical care in various coronavirus healthcare facilities in the past 24 hours.
The national coronavirus positivity rate during the past 24 hours was recorded at 5.95 percent.
It is worth mentioning here that the Covid-19 positivity rate was the percentage of actual positive cases appearing in every 100 tests performed to identify infected individuals.
According to John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the positive percentage will be high if the number of positive tests is too high, or if the number of total tests is too low. A higher positive percentage suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with coronavirus in the community who have not been tested yet.
The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major areas: Lahore 52 percent, Multan 70 percent, Bahawalpur 42 percent, and Peshawar 38 percent.
The maximum oxygen beds (alternate oxygen providing facility other than ventilator administered as per the medical requirement of a Covid-19 patient) were also occupied in four major areas: Gujranwala 49 percent, Swabi 47 percent, Peshawar 41 percent, and Multan 55 percent.
Around 540 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country while no coronavirus patient was on a ventilator in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, and Balochistan.
Some 51,528 tests were conducted across the country on Thursday. 17,123 in Sindh, 20,272 in Punjab, 7,693 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 3,897 in Islamabad Capital Territory, 1,377 in Balochistan, 298 in GB, and 868 in AJK.
Around 810,143 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan making it a significant count with over 90 percent recovery rate of the affected patients.
Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 893,461 cases were detected that also included the perished, recovered, and under-treatment Covid-19 patients so far, including AJK 18,547, Balochistan 24,318, GB 5,454, ICT 80,010, KP 128,561, Punjab 332,000, and Sindh 304,571.
About 20,089 deaths were recorded in the country since the eruption of the contagion. Around 4,869 have perished in Sindh, including 15 who died in hospitals on Thursday.
9,704 in Punjab had died with 64 deaths occurred in the past 24 hours. 51 of them in the hospital and 13 out of the hospital.
3,875 in KP, including 20 who died in hospitals on Thursday, 741 in ICT, including one who died in a hospital on Thursday, 270 in Balochistan, 107 in GB, and 523 in AJK, including two who succumbed to the deadly virus on Thursday.
A total of 12,654,997 coronavirus tests have been conducted so far, while 639 hospitals are equipped with Covid-19 facilities. Some 4,870 coronavirus patients were admitted to hospitals across the country.
VACCINATION FOR PEOPLE OVER 30:
Pakistan on Friday decided to start inoculating people above 30 years of age beginning on Saturday as the country aims to ramp up its Covid-19 vaccination drive.
The decision was made by the NCOC in a meeting today, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said in a tweet.
“The messages for those who are being scheduled will go out today,” the federal minister added.
The development comes only five days after the country had started registering people who are 30 years and above for the coronavirus vaccination.
The country, since the beginning of the vaccination drive in February which first opened for healthcare workers, has inoculated more than 4.9 million people, with 211,475 jabs being administered in the last 24 hours.
