Amid the tall claims made by the government, Pakistan reached two grim milestones during the past 24 hours (Thursday) by surpassing Italy in the total number of Covid-19 cases and topping 5,000 deaths.

We are now 11th most-affected country in the world with 243,599 reported coronavirus cases against 242,363 in Italy. Pakistan had already upstaged countries like France and Germany last month.

In Asia, Pakistan is the third on the list. India is first with 794,842 coronavirus cases followed by 250,458 in Iran. If we look at the Muslim countries, Pakistan is second behind Iran.

The latest figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre on Friday morning, another 2,751 cases and 75 deaths were recorded in the country during the past 24 hours.

At the regional level within the country, Sindh became first to surpass 100,000 coronavirus cases. The figures for the province currently stands at 100,900.

Punjab is second with 85,261 cases followed by 29,406 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 13,829 in Islamabad, 11,099 in Balochistan, 1,619 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 1,485 in Azad Kashmir.

As far as the deaths are concerned, the pandemic is proving deadliest in Punjab where 1,972 people have died of the coronavirus so far.

The figures for the other provinces/ regions are: Sindh 1,677, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1,063, Islamabad 146, Balochistan 125, Azad Kashmir 41 and Gilgit-Baltistan 34.

The number of active cases in Pakistan currently stands at 89,449. Out these, 2,375 patients are in a critical condition and being treated in the intensive care units of different hospitals.

On the other hand, the authorities administered another 23,255 tests on Thursday, raising the overall tally to 1,514,858. It means the ratio of tests conducted per million population has now reached 6,856 which is very low according to the standards set by infectious diseases experts and recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO).