COVID-19 numbers creeping up in Pakistan again

The COVID-19 numbers in Pakistan are continuing to slowly creep up, with the positivity rate witnessing nearly a 2% jump within a span of just the last five days. Karachi is the most affected city, the latest data by the National Institute of Health, Islamabad (NIH) showed Friday morning.

As per the latest stats, the country reported 309 new cases of COVID-19 in a single day, which pushed the positivity rate to 2.22%.

The fresh cases were detected after diagnostic tests on 13,941 samples.

Meanwhile, 80 patients are currently being treated in intensive-care units at different medical facilities across the country. However, no death from coronavirus was reported in the last 24 hours.

Moreover, the positivity rate in Sindh climbed to 6.1%, with a 15.85% positivity in Karachi alone. Despite a major drop in the city’s positivity rate since Thursday – when it stood at 21.23% – Karachi is still the most affected city in the country.

As per the NIH stats, the second most affected city in the country is Mardan
with a 4.76% COVID-19 positivity rate.

Amid rising fears of a sixth COVID-19 wave, the Sindh health department has
expressed concerns in a letter to the Karachi and Hyderabad commissioners. The health department directed the commissioners to ensure strict implementation of COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) in the two cities.

The SOPs include mask-wearing, social distancing, checking vaccination cards and limiting public transport occupancy to 70%.

The health department has expressed fear of a spread of COVID-19 sub-variants BA-5 and BA-4.

One more patient had died of deadly coronavirus during the last 24 hours, raising the total death toll to 1,766 in the Rawalpindi district.

As per the latest data released by the District Health Authority here Friday, as many as 1,766 people have died since the start of the pandemic, out of which 1,335 Rawalpindi residents and 431 from other districts.

In addition, the report updated that 14 more were tested positive for COVID-19 during the last 24 hours, taking the count of confirmed cases to 46,750 in the district, including 43,238 from Rawalpindi and 3,512 from outside districts.

Among the new patients, five arrived from the Potohar town, four from Rawal town, three from Kahutta and one each from Gujjar Khan and Taxila.

“Presently,81 are quarantined are homes and no one at the health facility,” data revealed.
District Health Authority updated that as many as 6,913,145 people, including 44,797 health workers, had so far been vaccinated against the fatal disease since the start of the vaccination drive from March 10, 2021, it informed.

In addition, the report updated that during the last 24 hours,1,036 samples were collected, out of which 1,022 were declared negative, while the positivity rate was recorded at 1.35 per cent.

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