Pakistan reached another grim milestone on Monday as the coronavirus death toll topped 7,000 after another 23 people died in the country during the past 24 hours. Most of these latest deaths were recorded in Punjab where the deadly virus claimed 12 lives.

The figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday morning also show that the virus was found in 1,637 people during the same period, raising the overall number of infections to 346,476.

On Monday, the NCOC had noted that the Covid-19 positivity rate had exceeded 15 percent in at least three major cities in the country, which were: Hyderabad 6.59 percent, Multan 15.97 percent and Gilgit 15.38 percent.

Other cities with higher positivity ratio are: Muzaffarabad 14.12 percent, Mirpur 11.11 percent, Peshawar 9.69 percent, Quetta 8.03 percent, Islamabad 7.48 percent, Karachi 7.12 percent, Lahore 5.37 percent and Rawalpindi 4.63 percent.

Meanwhile, the region-wise distribution of the coronavirus cases as of Monday is given as: Sindh 150,834, Punjab 107,329, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 40,843, Islamabad 22,110, Balochistan 16,152, Azad Kashmir 4,830 and Gilgit-Baltistan 4,378.

Also on Monday, the number of people fully recovering from the infection increased to 319,431. Hence, a total of 326,431 cases have so far closed [deaths + number of people recovering from infection] in the country.

Meanwhile, the number of active coronavirus cases in the country jumped to 20,045 while 1,181 of them have been hospitalised.

Out of those in hospitals, 1,052 are receiving treatment in intensive care units due to their critical condition. Meanwhile, 177 of these critically ill patients have been placed on ventilators.

The day also saw 31,904 tests being administered in different parts of the country after which the overall number reached 4,741,507.

US surpasses 10 million coronavirus cases

The United States recorded its 10 millionth case of the coronavirus Monday, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University, the same day that Pfizer and BioNTech announced their vaccine showed 90 percent effectiveness.

Shortly before 1400 GMT Monday the tracker by the Baltimore-based university showed 10,018,278 cases recorded in the United States since the pandemic began, and 237,742 deaths.

Both are the highest tolls in absolute terms in the world.

The United States is now well into its third and by far biggest surge of its epidemic.

But interim results provided by Pfizer and BioNTech offered hope for a game changer in the trajectory of the pandemic.

According to preliminary findings, protection in patients was achieved seven days after the second of two vaccine doses, and 28 days after the first.

Outgoing President Donald Trump, heavily criticised for his handling of the health crisis, described the breakthrough as "great news," while top US pandemic expert Anthony Fauci said the result was "extraordinary." 

President-elect Joe Biden meanwhile urged Americans Monday to wear masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus and not consider it a "political statement," as he named the scientists who will lead his administration's response to the pandemic.

"We're still facing a very dark winter," Biden said. "The bottom line: I will spare no effort to turn this pandemic around once we're sworn in on January 20."

Biden applauded the vaccine announcement, but insisted a mask still remains "the most potent weapon" against the virus, and that "today's news does not change that urgent reality."

With inputs from AFP.