Pakistan has recorded another 765 coronavirus infections and 18 deaths during the last 24 hours (Tuesday), showed the figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday morning.

As per the latest NCOC data, after the addition of 22 new deaths, the overall toll has now surged to 30,218 whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,510,986 after adding the fresh 765 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), 34,296 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 2.23 percent. The number of patients in critical care was 981.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1498826746652766211

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), as many as 2,307 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 1,445,245. As of Wednesday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 35,523.

As many as 568,635 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 501,758 in Punjab, 216,273 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 134,442 in Islamabad, 35,352 in Balochistan, 43,014 in Azad Kashmir and 11,512 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 13,504 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 8,073 in Sindh, 6,274 in KP, 1,014 in Islamabad, 788 in Azad Kashmir, 375 in Balochistan and 190 in Gilgit Baltistan.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are the global developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- Queen Elizabeth II back to work -

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, 95, holds two virtual audiences after she was forced to cancel engagements last week since catching the virus.

- England scraps carers' jab mandate -

Health and social care workers in England will no longer have to have a Covid jab as a condition of employment from later this month, the government says.

- Zero deaths in South Africa -

South Africa records zero virus deaths for two days, for the first time since May 2020, health authorities say.

- Hong Kong panic buying -

Hong Kongers strip shop shelves bare amid panic buying over fears that the government intends to impose a China-style hard lockdown.

- China could 'co-exist' with virus -

China could move away from its zero-Covid strategy "in the near future" and co-exist with the virus, a top Chinese scientist says.

- Valneva vaccine for Bahrain -

French-Austrian biotech firm Valneva says its vaccine has received emergency authorisation for use in Bahrain, the first approval for the jab.

- Nearly six million dead -

Coronavirus has killed at least 5,952,685 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on Tuesday.

The United States has recorded the most Covid deaths with 950,481, followed by Brazil on 649,333, India on 514,023.

Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid, the WHO estimates the true death toll could be two to three times higher.

With inputs from AFP.