ISLAMABAD: Average daily new coronavirus cases in Pakistan have dipped below 3,000 for the first time in more than four weeks, but experts cautioned on Tuesday that infections remain high and precautions to slow the pandemic must remain in place.
The National Command and Operation Centre reported 2,580 new infections over the last 24 hours, it said in its daily update.
Before this, the daily count has mostly been hovering between the 3,000-4,000 range for a month.
The NCOC, department leading campaign against the pandemic, said the total cases rose to 1,210,082, including 1,097,416 recoveries, adding that the number of active cases rose to 85,801, including 5,304 critical patients.
The national coronavirus positivity rate in the last 24 hours was recorded at 5.44 percent, said the NCOC.
The NCOC statistics showed that 78 patients died from the virus during the last 24 hours, pushing the overall death toll to 26,865.
Sindh is the worst-affected province of the country with 446,045 infections followed by Punjab which has reported 415,654 cases.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has opened vaccination for the 15 to 18 years old age group in a bid to inoculate maximum people.
With parents and political leaders eager to have children around the country back in school for in-person learning, it is important to observe precautions, a health official said.
“We need to all take responsibility to decrease that community spread, including mask-wearing so that we can get our kids and our society back,” she said.
