ISLAMABAD: The nation on Friday registered 1,194 new coronavirus cases, the National Command and Operation Center said on Saturday.
The NCOC said in a statement that the number of overall cases had risen to 939,931, including 875,581 recoveries.
A total of 42,717 active cases are under treatment across the country, including 2,760 those who are in critical condition.
According to the NCOC, the pandemic killed 57 people on Friday, increasing the overall death toll to 21,633.
Punjab continued to be the worst-hit province with 343,703 infections and 10,479 deaths caused by the pandemic followed by Sindh which reported 327,021 positive cases and 5,220 deaths so far.
Besides releasing the Covid statistics, the NCOC also issued a renewed travel advisory, adding more countries to C-category.
The travel advisory issued by the NCOC includes four more countries in the C-category list, bringing the total number of countries in the list to 26, including India, Iraq, and Iran. “The passengers travelling from these countries have to stay in quarantine besides having a prior test for Covid-19,” the NCOC said.
Meanwhile, thirty-four passengers tested positive for the coronavirus upon arrival at Peshawar’s Bacha Khan International Airport on Saturday.
According to details, 156 passengers arrived at the airport from Dubai. Their swabs were taken for a coronavirus test, after which 34 of the passengers were found to be carrying the deadly virus. Trained dogs deployed at the Peshawar airport helped detect the coronavirus positive patients.
Subsequently, the Peshawar airport officials handed over the affected passengers to the district administration to shift them to quarantine centres. The airport is being completely disinfected, they said.
The government has received 14.5 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine since it began a nationwide campaign in February and plans to buy and receive over 90 million more jabs to vaccinate the entire adult population in the second half of 2021.
Announcing the budget for FY2021-22, Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin announced the government has allocated $1.1 billion to procure vaccines and planned to vaccinate 100 million people by July 2022.
It has also set aside Rs100 billion to combat coronavirus spread in the next fiscal year.
