The number of officially confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan reached 253,603 after another 1,979 people tested positive for the virus during the past 24 hours, shows the figures released by National Command and Operation Centre on Tuesday morning.

During the same period, 50 more coronavirus-related deaths were reported in different parts of the country, raising the overall death toll to 5,320.

A total of 106,622 cases have so far been recorded in Sindh, making it the most affected province of the country. Punjab is second with 87,492 cases followed 30,747 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 14,202 in Islamabad, 11,192 in Balochistan, 1,694 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 1,655 in Azad Kashmir.

But it is Punjab where most the deaths are being reported, as 2,026 people have died of the virus in the province. The figures for other provinces/ regions are: Sindh 1,826, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1,106, Islamabad 155, Balochistan 126, Azad Kashmir 45 and Gilgit-Baltistan 36.

Meanwhile, the number of active coronavirus cases in the country currently stands at 77,628 out of which 2,151 are in a critical condition and being treated in different hospitals.

With 170,656 people fully recovering from the infection, the number of closed cases has now increased to 175,976.

As far as testing is concerned, another 21,020 tests were conducted across the country during the past 24 hours after which the overall number has now increased to 1,606,190.

With the federal government claiming that the pandemic has been contained, there are critics who say that the figures are not reliable as the PTI opted for reducing testing.

In this context, Murtaza Wahab, the Sindh government spokesperson, had shared the province-wise details of the tests conducted on July 13.

https://twitter.com/murtazawahab1/status/1282571468426162176

Earlier, similar views were expressed by Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari who said the PTI government was hiding the coronavirus cases in the country reducing the tests significantly.

In a tweet, Bakhtawar – the daughter of Benazir Bhutto – said the government had not tested even 1 percent of the 220 million population despite the passage of six months since the first case was detected in Pakistan. “This is not just incompetence, this is intentional,” she added.

https://twitter.com/BakhtawarBZ/status/1280786341203259392