Pakistan has registered another 18 coronavirus deaths and 1,455 infections during the last 24 hours (Wednesday), showed the statistics released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Thursday morning.

As per the latest NCOC data, after the addition of 18 new deaths, the overall toll has now surged to 30,114 whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,505,328 after adding the fresh 1,455 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Wednesday), 42,396 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at to 3.4 percent. The number of patients in critical care was 1,220.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1496652881142947842

During the last 24 hours (Wednesday), as many as 2,914 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 1,412,429. As of Thursday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 62,785.

As many as 565,975 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 500,092 in Punjab, 215,588 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 134,107 in Islamabad, 35,309 in Balochistan, 42,825 in Azad Kashmir and 11,432 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 13,480 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 8,048 in Sindh, 6,228 in KP, 1,009 in Islamabad, 786 in Azad Kashmir, 374 in Balochistan and 189 in Gilgit Baltistan.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are the global developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- WHO vaccine hub expands scope -
The World Health Organization says its hub in South Africa, set up to help countries in Africa make mRNA vaccines, will also provide support to Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Serbia and Vietnam.

- New Sanofi-GSK vaccine -
French pharmaceuticals giant Sanofi and Britain's GSK say they will "seek regulatory authorisation" for their Covid vaccine in the United States and the European Union after phase 3 trials delivered positive results.

- Vaccine call for North Korea -
The world should provide millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines to North Korea, where "draconian" anti-pandemic measures are worsening an already-severe food crisis, Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN special rapporteur on human rights, says.

- Italy to end state of emergency -
Italy will end its Covid-19 state of emergency at the end of March and slowly lift rules imposed during the pandemic, says Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

- Iceland lifts all curbs -
Iceland will this week join the list of countries to have lifted all their restrictions against Covid-19, despite still recording high numbers of cases, the government announces.

- Easing in Slovakia -
Slovakia will allow all restaurants, shops, hotels and spas to serve unvaccinated people from Saturday, the government says, citing a lower Covid-19 case rate.

- More than 5.9 million dead -
Coronavirus has killed at least 5,905,653 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources at 1900 GMT Wednesday.

The United States has recorded the most Covid deaths with 939,201 followed by Brazil with 645,420 and India 512,622.

Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid-19, the WHO estimates the true death toll could be two to three times higher.

With inputs from AFP.