Pakistan has posted 47 deaths during the last 24 hours (Thursday) by the coronavirus as the number of infections has surged to 528,891. According to the latest data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday morning, as many as 1,745 people tested positive for Covid-19 during this period.

The countrywide death toll has now jumped to 11,204 with the addition of 47 new fatalities.

Sindh remained the worst-hit province by the coronavirus pandemic in terms of infections followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. Punjab recorded the most numbers of casualties.

So far 239,186 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 152,158 in Punjab, 64,651 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 18,696 in Balochistan, 40,548 in Islamabad, 8,753 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 4,899 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

In a single day, 2,075 more people recovered taking the number of people who defeated this virus to 482,771. A total of 35,839 tests were conducted across the country during Thursday taking the total to 7,561,977 tests conducted so far.

On Thursday, Pakistan said that it will receive half-a-million free doses of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine by January 31.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made the announcement at a news conference, saying that his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, shared the “good news” in a phone call between the two officials. “He told me, ‘Send your aircraft and immediately airlift this drug.’ So, this is a welcome news for us. And we will, God willing, succeed in saving many lives,” Qureshi said.

Global developments
Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- Biden gets to work -
US President Joe Biden spends his first day in office signing executive orders and other directives to jumpstart a national emergency strategy against the coronavirus.

- US embraces WHO -
In a dramatic about-turn, the new US administration thanks the World Health Organization for leading the global pandemic response. It vows to remain a member and "fulfil its financial obligations to the organisation". 

- EU border closures? -
European Union chiefs hold a virtual summit to discuss the possibility of coordinated intra-EU border closures, with governments worried about the spread of new variants and a potential uptick in travel during the approaching winter break.

- EU warning -
The European Centre Disease Prevention and Control, the Eu's disease agency, urges member countries to prepare more stringent measures and speed up vaccine campaigns in the coming weeks because of the risks of more infectious variants.

- Lebanon extends lockdown -
Lebanon prolongs a total lockdown by two weeks to stem an unprecedented rise in cases and protect its collapsing health sector.

- Portugal closes schools -  
Portugal says it will close schools for 15 days in an attempt to contain a surge in coronavirus cases, with concerns over the spread of the more contagious UK strain.

- Dutch curfew -
The Dutch parliament approves the country's first curfew since the start of the pandemic which the government says will come into force on Saturday.

- KLM sheds jobs -
Dutch airline KLM says it will shed between 800 and 1,000 more jobs as the pandemic is hitting the aviation business for longer than expected.

- Olympics on -
The International Olympic Committee chief says the virus-delayed Tokyo Olympics will go ahead this summer, and there is "no plan B".

- Hungary approves Russian jab -
Hungary becomes the first EU member to grant preliminary approval for Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus jab, also licensing the AstraZeneca vaccine.

- US jobless -
In bad news for Biden, the United States saw a massive 900,000 new filings for unemployment benefits last week.

- Two million plus dead -
At least 2,075,698 people have died of the virus since it first emerged in China in late 2019, according to a tally compiled by AFP on Thursday based on official figures.

The US has suffered the highest death toll with 406,162 fatalities, followed by Brazil with 212,831 and India with 152,869.

The US death toll now surpasses the American military death toll from World War II.

The number of deaths globally is broadly under-estimated. The toll is calculated from daily figures published by national health authorities and does not include later revisions by statistics agencies.

- Glastonbury off -
Britain's Glastonbury Festival is cancelled for the second year in a row because of the pandemic.

- And Art Basel postponed -
The Swiss edition of Art Basel, one of the international art market's largest and most prestigious events, has been postponed from June until September.

 

With inputs from AFP.