Pakistan has posted nine more deaths and 350 infections from the coronavirus pandemic during the last 24 hours (Tuesday), showed the statistics released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday morning.

As per the NCOC data, after the addition of nine new deaths, the overall toll has now surged to 28,677 whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,282,860 after adding the fresh 350 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), a total of 38,038 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 0.92 percent. The number of patients in critical care was 1,007.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1463313187017740290

 During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), as many as 1,015 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 1,239,995. As of Wednesday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 14,188.

As many as 474,573 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 442,638 in Punjab, 179,720 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 107,525 in Islamabad, 33,456 in Balochistan, 34,538 in Azad Kashmir and 10,410 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 13,005 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 7,613 in Sindh, 5,821 in KP, 952 in Islamabad, 742 in Azad Kashmir, 358 in Balochistan and 186 in Gilgit Baltistan.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are the global developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- 700,000 more European deaths feared -
The World Health Organization says about 700,000 more people could die of Covid-19 by next spring in Europe, which remains "in the firm grip" of the virus.

- Anti-Covid pill -
The European Medicines Agency says it could decide "within weeks" whether to approve Merck's anti-Covid pill, Lagevrio.

- Mandatory jabs for German soldiers -
The German military is expected to make coronavirus jabs mandatory for soldiers "soon", a defence ministry spokesman says.

- Israel vaccinates children -
Israel begins vaccinating children aged five to 11 after experiencing what its Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called a "children's wave" with about half of confirmed cases among kids. 

- Vaccine hope -
A Covid vaccine known as CoVac-1 that provokes an immune response through white blood cells has showed promise in trials, according to research that provides new hope for people with compromised immune systems.

- Merkel husband says unjabbed 'lazy' - 
Chancellor Angela Merkel's husband Joachim Sauer accuses unvaccinated Germans of "laziness" as the country struggles to contain a dramatic surge in coronavirus infections.

- Unrest in French territories -
Protesters in the French Caribbean territories of Martinique and Guadeloupe opposing measures to limit the spread of Covid-19 clash again with security forces.

- More than 5.1 million dead - 
The coronavirus has killed at least 5,148,939 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT on Tuesday. 

The United States has suffered the most Covid-related deaths with 771,118, followed by Brazil with 612,659, India with 465,911, Mexico with 292,471 and Russia with 265,336.

The countries with the most new deaths are Russia with 1,241, followed by Ukraine with 326 and India with 249.

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

With inputs from AFP.