Another 126 people lost their lives to coronavirus whereas 3,265 fresh cases were reported during the last 24 hours (Wednesday) across Pakistan, showed the figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Thursday morning.

As per the latest NCOC data, after the addition of 126 new deaths the toll has now surged to 19,336 whereas the number of confirmed cases stood at 870,703 after adding 3,265 new ones.

During the past 24 hours (Wednesday), 4,623 patients have recovered from the virus while the total recoveries stood at 776,315. As of Thursday, the total count of active cases was recorded at 75,052, while the positivity rate was at 8.35 percent.

As many as 295,483 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 323,314 in Punjab, 125,914 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 78,725 in Islamabad, 23,728 in Balochistan, 18,129 in Azad Kashmir and 5,410 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 9,267 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab, 4,778 in Sindh, 3,697 in KP, 722 in Islamabad, 510 in Azad Kashmir, 255 in Balochistan, and 107 in Gilgit Baltistan.

The health facilities across the country conducted 39,101 coronavirus detection tests, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 12,349,87 since the first case was reported early last year.

Global developments

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- Covid catastrophe was preventable -

The scale of the Covid disaster could have been prevented, a panel of independent experts assembled by the World Health Organization declares, also blaming the UN body for not sounding the alarm sooner.

- How many India deaths? -

India's coronavirus death toll passes 250,000 but comparisons of official data with reports from people on the frontlines suggest the true number is several times higher.

- Indian variant spreading -

The WHO says that the B.1.617 variant blamed for India's explosive outbreak has been found in dozens of countries all over the world.

- EU urges limiting India trips -

The European Commission calls for EU member states to work together to restrict travel from India in order to limit the spread of the B.1.617 variant.

- Norway ditches AstraZeneca -

Norway will drop AstraZeneca's vaccine from its immunisation programme due to concerns over rare blood clot side effects, and offer Johnson & Johnson's jab only to volunteers, the government announces.

- Slovakia to start Sputnik jabs -

Slovakia will start rolling out Russia's Sputnik V vaccine in June, the government says.

- Spanish football fans rejoice -

Fans will be allowed to return to some stadiums in the top two divisions of Spanish football this weekend, the government says. 

- EU boost -

The European Union sharply revises its growth forecasts for this year and next, saying an accelerated vaccination drive and the bloc's landmark recovery plan would lift Europe out of recession.

- Pope is back -

Pope Francis staged his first public audience since early last year in Rome, greeting a baby, chatting with masked children outdoors and donning a hat handed to him from the crowd.

- Fully jabbed island -

The tiny Pacific nation of Nauru congratulates itself for a "world record" vaccination drive which has resulted in all its adult population receiving their first jab.

- 3.3 million dead -

The pandemic has killed at least 3,319,512 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 582,848 deaths, followed by Brazil with 425,540, India 254,197, Mexico 219,323 and Britain 127,629. 

 

With inputs from AFP.