Pakistan has added 50 more deaths to its coronavirus tally as 4,352 infections were recorded throughout the country 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 50 new deaths, the overall toll has now surged to 29,601 whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,470,161 after adding the fresh 4,253 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), 51,749 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 8.2 percent. The number of patients in critical care was 1,731.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1491216504557563905

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), as many as 5,109 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 1,354,298. As of Wednesday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 86,262.

As many as 554,012 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 491,518 in Punjab, 205,505 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 132,161 in Islamabad, 34,910 in Balochistan, 41,068 in Azad Kashmir and 10,987 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 13,285 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 7,927 in Sindh, 6,076 in KP, 990 in Islamabad, 764 in Azad Kashmir, 370 in Balochistan and 189 in Gilgit Baltistan.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- Canada trucker protests go on -

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vows to bring an end to a trucker protest still paralysing the capital Ottawa, as the movement against Covid-19 restrictions fast becomes a rallying cry for far-right and anti-vaccine groups.

- Pfizer profits double -

Pfizer forecasts more than $50 billion in 2022 sales for its Covid-19 vaccine and pill Paxlovid as it reports a more than doubling of annual profits on strong vaccine sales.

- China lockdown drives up aluminium -

Aluminium surges to a 14-year peak on stretched global supplies, particularly after China placed the city of Baise -- a key producer of the base metal -- in lockdown.

- Hong Kong crackdown -

Hong Kong imposes its strictest social distancing measures yet, capping gatherings to two families, as it struggles to maintain China's "zero-Covid" policy amid an Omicron-fuelled spike in cases. 

- France to lift tests for travellers -

France is to drop its requirement for a negative test for vaccinated travellers from outside the EU as daily infection numbers continue to fall.

- Jabs for 12-15-year- olds -

The EU's medicines watchdog says it has started to evaluate Pfizer/BionTech's coronavirus vaccine to booster children aged 12 to 15 years.

- Tour champion in Covid setback -

Double Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar of powerhouse Team UAE-Emirates contracted Covid last week, hindering his warm up for the World Tour race.

- Over 5.7 million deaths -

Coronavirus has killed at least 5,748,498 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources on Tuesday.

The US has recorded the most Covid deaths with 905,544, followed by Brazil with 632,621, India 504,062 and Russia 336,721.

Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid-19, the WHO estimates the overall death toll could be two to three times higher.

With inputs from AFP.