The coronavirus restrictions strictly enforced across Pakistan to stem the spread of Covid-19 seemed to be working as the country recorded a drop in new infections which were 2,869 during the last 24 hours (Tuesday), much less than what was being reported in the past many weeks.

As far as the deaths were concerned, another 104 people lost their lives to the coronavirus during the last 24 hours (Tuesday) across Pakistan, showed the data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday morning.

As per the latest NCOC figures, after the addition of the new 104 deaths, the toll has now surged to 19,210 whereas the number of confirmed cases stood at 867,438 after adding 2,869 new ones.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1392252193936379907

During the past 24 hours (Tuesday), 5,200 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 771,692. As of Wednesday, the total count of active cases was recorded at 76,536, while the positivity rate was dropped to 7.42 percent.

As many as 294,251 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 322,117 in Punjab, 125,392 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 78,560 in Islamabad, 23,655 in Balochistan, 18,056 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 5,407 in Gilgit Baltistan.

Moreover, 9,188 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab, 4,765 in Sindh, 3,668 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 718 in Islamabad, 509 in Azad Kashmir, 255 in Balochistan and 107 in Gilgit Baltistan.

The health facilities across the country conducted 38,616 coronavirus detection tests, taking the total number of Covid-19 tests to 12,310,87 since the first case was reported early last year.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- Wooing tourists - 

Greece says it is giving priority to its island residents for vaccinations against Covid-19 ahead of a planned May 14 launch to its tourism season.

And France launches a multi-million euro campaign to woo mainly European tourists.

- New AstraZeneca suspensions -  

Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian states suspend immunisation of pregnant women with the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine on the advice of the national health regulator after a reported death.

And Slovakia suspends first doses of the vaccine after signalling it is investigating the case of a vaccinated patient who died from a blood clot.

- EU sues AstraZeneca -

Brussels is suing the British-Swedish pharma giant to force it to deliver the 90 million vaccine doses it promised the bloc before July. 

- Indian PM to stay away from  G7 -

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not attend in person the G7 summit in the UK, where he is an invitee, as his country reels from a massive wave of coronavirus cases.

- Belgian reopening -

Belgium says it will allow indoor drinking, dining and entertainment venues for audiences of up to 200 people to reopen from June 9.

- Antibodies last eight months -

Antibodies against coronavirus remained in the blood of patients with Covid-19 for at least eight months after they were infected, Italian researchers say.

- Three doses too many -

A 23-year-old woman who was mistakenly injected with too many shots of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine was given four, rather than six doses as previously reported, Italian health authorities say.

- Berlusconi back in hospital -

Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been readmitted to hospital in Milan suffering from the after-effects of Covid-19, a Forza Italia source says.

- 3.3 million dead -

The pandemic has killed at least 3,306,037 people worldwide since the virus first emerged in late 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data. 

The US is the worst-affected country with 582,153 deaths, followed by Brazil with 423,229, India 249,922, Mexico 219,089 and Britain 127,609. 

With inputs from AFP.