The coronavirus death toll in Pakistan increased to 6,614 as another 13 infected persons lost their lives during the past 24 hours (Wednesday), show the figures released by National Command and Operation Centre on Thursday morning.

Seven of these coronavirus patients died in Punjab with another four deaths reported in Sindh and two in Islamabad. The latest human losses came after the death of 14 people on the previous day.

On the other hand, the number of active cases has again crossed the 9,000 mark amid the recent increase in infection rate.

Currently, there are 9,209 active cases in the country out of which 796 people have been hospitalised. As far the critically ill patients are concerned, 533 are being treated in intensive care units with 77 of them placed on ventilators. 

Meanwhile, 756 people tested positive for the virus during the same period. It means the overall number of coronavirus cases in the country has now reached 321,218 with most of these new infections recorded in Sindh, Punjab and Islamabad.

Sindh has been infected worst by the pandemic with 140,997 cases. The region-wise distribution of the coronavirus cases for other provinces and regions is: Punjab 101,237, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 38,464, Islamabad 17,681, Balochistan 15,599, Gilgit-Baltistan 3,982 and Azad Kashmir 3,258.

During the past 24 hours, 315 coronavirus patients fully recovered from the infection. Thus the total number of people recovering from the infection has now increased to 305,395.

The abovementioned stats means that the number of closed cases [deaths + number of those recovering from infection] currently stands at 312,009.

Also on Wednesday, 31,862 tests were administered in the country as part of the ongoing efforts to identify, trace and isolate the infected persons to stop further spread.

In this way, the overall number of tests conducted since the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in the country has increased to 3,975,596.

Germany sees 6,638 daily cases
New cases of coronavirus infections in Germany have soared to 6,638 in the past 24 hours, official data showed Thursday, reaching a daily level not seen since the start of the pandemic.

The alarming jump in numbers came just hours after Chancellor Angela Merkel met with the leaders of Germany's 16 federal states to agree tougher restrictions designed to slow the spread of the contagion.

The highest number of new cases previously recorded in one day was 6,294, on March 28, according to figures from the Robert Koch Institute disease control centre.

Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday night announced new limits on people gathering at events as well as mandatory mask-wearing in crowded places.

Under the new measures, if an area records more than 35 new infections per 100,000 people over seven days, masks will become mandatory in all places where people have close contact.

"We can see that ... infection rates are rising and that we have a very high infection rate in some regions," Merkel said. 

"We must therefore prevent an uncontrolled or exponential increase."

The number of people allowed to gather will also be limited to 25 in public and 15 in private spaces.

Once a threshold of 50 new infections per 100,000 is exceeded, even tougher restrictions will apply.

These include limiting private gatherings to 10 people or two households, and the closure of restaurants after 11:00 pm.

Even more curbs could be imposed if the upwards trajectory of new infections is maintained, Merkel warned.

"We will see if what we've done today is enough," she said after Wednesday's decisions.

 

With inputs from AFP