The retreat of coronavirus pandemic picked up pace as Pakistan registered only 12 deaths, 554 infections and 1.31 percent positivity ratio 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 data, after the addition of 12 new deaths, the overall toll has now surged to 28,312 whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,266,204 after adding the fresh 554 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), a total of 42,126 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan. The number of patients in critical care was 1,783.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1450631050485506050

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), as many as 977 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 1,212,687. As of Wednesday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 25,205.

As many as 466,432 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 438,271 in Punjab, 177,038 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 106,543 in Islamabad, 33,138 in Balochistan, 34,412 in Azad Kashmir and 10,370 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 12,868 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 7,534 in Sindh, 5,693 in KP, 937 in Islamabad, 740 in Azad Kashmir, 354 in Balochistan and 186 in Gilgit Baltistan.

 

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are the global developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- Russia looks at safety measures -
As the country registers a new record number of daily deaths, Russia's government considers keeping people off work for a week to reduce social contact.

And Moscow's mayor orders the capital's first coronavirus restrictions since the summer, including ordering unvaccinated over-60s to work from home and reintroducing homeworking quotas.

- Record daily deaths in Ukraine -
Ukraine reports a daily record of 538 deaths as Russia's neighbour also sees a surge in infections.

- British monitoring subvariant -
The British government says it is monitoring a subvariant of the Delta strain of the coronavirus -- AY.4.2 -- seen in a growing number of cases. But it says there is no evidence it spreads more easily.

- Bulgarian health pass -
Bulgaria makes the coronavirus health pass mandatory for most leisure activities and for entering hotels and restaurants, as the least-vaccinated EU country registers its highest deaths and cases for the fourth wave.

- Poor Burundi start -
Only a trickle of Burundians have turned up to get a Covid-19 shot since the country launched a vaccination drive this week, one of the last in the world to do so.

- Covid pill setback -
US-based Atea Pharmaceuticals says plans to develop an orally administered drug to treat coronavirus patients together with Swiss pharma giant Roche have suffered a setback in clinical trials.

- Italian senator suspended -
An Italian senator is suspended for 10 days after entering the Senate building in Rome without a coronavirus "Green Pass", which is now mandatory in all workplaces.

- Djokovic in doubt for Open -
Unvaccinated tennis stars are unlikely to get visas to play in the Australian Open, throwing defending champion Novak Djokovic's participation in the Grand Slam tournament into doubt.

- English footballers doing better -
Sixty-eight percent of Premier League players have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus, the English top flight confirms, following criticism of hesitancy among footballers.

- 4.9 million dead - 
The coronavirus has killed at least 4,903,612 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Tuesday. 

The US has suffered the most Covid-related deaths with 726,201, followed by Brazil with 603,465, India 452,454, Mexico 284,477 and Russia 225,325.

Based on the latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were the US with 1,832, Russia with 1,015 and Ukraine with 538.

Taking into account excess mortality directly and indirectly linked to Covid-19, the World Health Organization estimates the overall death toll could be two to three times higher.

 

With inputs from AFP.