Another 66 people breathed their last and 3,974 were infected by coronavirus throughout Pakistan during the last 24 hours (Tuesday), showed the figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday morning.

As per the NCOC figures, after the addition of 66 new deaths, the overall toll has now surged to 24,639 whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,109,274 after adding the fresh 3,974 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), a total of 57,460 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 6.91 percent.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1427798753789071363

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), as many as 3,122 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 996,426. As of Wednesday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 88,209.

As many as 414,850 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 374,916 in Punjab, 153,836 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 94,714 in Islamabad, 31,686 in Balochistan, 29,790 in Azad Kashmir and 9,482 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 11,434 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 6,497 in Sindh, 4,696 in KP, 837 in Islamabad, 672 in Azad Kashmir, 335 in Balochistan and 168 in Gilgit Baltistan.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are the global developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- US booster shots -

The US government will announce that Americans should get booster shots for coronavirus vaccines eight months after their last shot, part of a campaign that could begin as early as mid-September, according to US media.

- Moderna shots for UK youth -

Britain's medicines watchdog says it has approved the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine for children aged 12 to 17, after previously giving the green light to Pfizer.

- NZ snap lockdown -

New Zealand moves into a  three-day lockdown after identifying a single case of locally transmitted Covid-19 suspected to be the Delta variant, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says.

- Japan prolongs emergency -

Japan's government says it will expand a virus state of emergency to seven new regions as it battles a record wave of infections a week before the Paralympic Games.

- Vaccine hesitancy -

White adults in South Africa are more hesitant towards coronavirus vaccination than their black compatriots, with just around half of white adults willing to take vaccine shots, compared to 75 percent of black adults, a new study reveals.

- Malaysian crisis -

Malaysia's king Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah urges rival politicians to unite to battle a worsening coronavirus outbreak as the hunt begins for a new prime minister following Muhyiddin Yassin's resignation Monday.

- Uruguayan cocktail -

Uruguay starts giving booster shots, using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, to people who have generally received their first two doses with China's CoronaVac, a combination few countries have yet tried, as it seeks to ward off the Delta variant.

- Half of Swiss fully jabbed -

More than half of the Swiss population has now been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, statistics show, although immunisation rates are slowing even as cases and hospitalisations rise.

- 4.3 million dead -

The coronavirus has killed at least 4,370,427 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data. 

The US is the worst-affected country with 622,321 deaths, followed by Brazil with 569,492, India with 432,079, Mexico  248,652 and Peru 197,487.

 

With inputs from AFP.