Pakistan has recorded another 151 deaths and 5,480 infections during the last 24 hours (Wednesday) from coronavirus, showed the data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Thursday morning.

As per the NCOC figures, after the addition of 151 more deaths, the nationwide toll has now jumped to 17,680 and the number of positive cases has now surged to 815,711, after adding 5,480 new cases.

As usual, Punjab remained the worst-hit province by the pandemic both in terms of cases as well as deaths followed by Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

So far, 298,818 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Punjab, 281,385 in Sindh, 116,523 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 22,118 in Balochistan, 74,640 in Islamabad, 16,931 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 5,296 in Gilgit Baltistan.

Furthermore, 8,327 individuals have so far lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab, 4,629 in Sindh, 3,238 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 233 in Balochistan, 677 in Islamabad, 470 in Azad Kashmir and 106 in Gilgit Baltistan.

Pakistan has so far conducted 11,739,027 coronavirus tests and 57,013 during the last 24 hours (Wednesday). As many as 708,193 coronavirus patients have recovered in the country whereas 5,263 patients were in critical condition.

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

- Cases in Europe top 50 million -
More than 50 million people have been infected in Europe by the coronavirus since it emerged in China, according to an AFP tally of official data Wednesday.

Some 1,382,000 cases were recorded in the past seven days -- an average of 197,400 a day.

- India deaths top 200,000 -
India passes the grim milestone of 200,000 deaths with 360,000 new cases in the past 24 hours -- a global record -- as oxygen and medical aid supplies are rushed there.

- Pfizer 'works for variant' -
BioNTech co-founder Ugur Sahin says he is confident the vaccine his company developed with Pfizer works against the Indian variant. 

- Help coming for India -
Singapore says it has sent two plane-loads of oxygen supplies to India, Germany will deliver 120 ventilators and plans to set up oxygen production, while Britain also announces three oxygen 'factories' the size of containers for New Delhi following a first consignment of aid this week.

And Russia says it too is flying out emergency help -- including oxygen support, ventilators and medicine -- while Switzerland sends $1 million (827,000 euros) in aid for hospitals.

- EU calls out 'disinformation' -
Beijing and Moscow have stepped up "state-sponsored disinformation" campaigns denigrating Western-developed vaccines against Covid while promoting their own, says the European Union.

- Day in court -
The EU and AstraZeneca will begin oral arguments in a Belgian court on May 26 in the bloc's legal action against the pharmaceutical giant over vaccine shortfalls.

- Turkey buys Sputnik jabs -
Turkey announces it has signed a deal for the delivery of 50 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said the first deliveries will arrive in May to help  speed up the innoculation effort.

- Warsaw joins easing in Europe -
Poland will lift most coronavirus restrictions by the end of May, says Prime Minister Mateusz, adding "The worst in terms of infections is probably behind us".

- Gaming boom -
Sony announces its biggest-ever net profit thanks to unprecedented pandemic-driven demand as people around the world turn to gaming to liven up lockdowns.

- More than three million deaths -
At least 3,137,725 people have died of Covid-19 around the world since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally from official sources.

The US is the worst-affected country with 573,381 deaths, followed by Brazil with 395,022, Mexico 215,547, India 201,187 and Britain 127,451. 

 

With inputs from AFP.