Pakistan has recorded 269 infections and only one death by coronavirus pandemic during the last 24 hours (Monday), showed the figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Tuesday morning.

As per the latest NCOC data, with the addition of one more death the toll inched up to 30,347, whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,524,355 after adding the fresh 269 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Monday), 27,046 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 0.99 percent. The number of patients in critical care was 432.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1508617367147925514

During the last 24 hours (Monday), as many as 47 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 1,485,473. As of Tuesday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 8,535.

As many as 574,989 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 504,926 in Punjab, 218,968 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 135,048 in Islamabad, 35,471 in Balochistan, 43,254 in Azad Kashmir and 11,699 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

As many as 13,553 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 8,095 in Sindh, 6,315 in KP, 1,023 in Islamabad, 792 in Azad Kashmir, 378 in Balochistan and 191 in Gilgit Baltistan.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are top updates on the global surge in Covid cases:

Shanghai Covid-19 cases surge

Shanghai recorded a steep climb in Covid-19 cases Tuesday as spreading anxiety in the Chinese city of about 25 million prompted panic-buying at supermarkets.

Millions endured a second day of lockdown after authorities effectively split the country's biggest urban area in two, with residents of the city's eastern half confined to their homes for four days and subjected to mandatory testing. 

China reported 6,886 domestic Covid cases nationwide on Tuesday, with more than 4,400 of them detected in Shanghai, now the centre of the country's worst Covid-19 outbreak since the early days of the pandemic. 

Images showed some supermarket shelves in the city emptied of all goods.

"After being unable to grab any groceries this morning, I went back to sleep, and all I dreamt about was buying food at the supermarket," one user wrote on China's Twitter-like Weibo platform.

"I'd never have thought that society today would be worried over buying groceries."

In a bid to keep Shanghai's economy running, authorities have avoided the hard lockdowns regularly deployed in other Chinese cities, instead opting for rolling, localised restrictions.

The area locked down on Monday is the sprawling eastern district known as Pudong, which includes the main international airport and glittering financial centre.

The lockdown will last until Friday, then switch to the city's more populated western Puxi section, home to the historic Bund riverfront.

The city's airports, railway stations and international shipping ports remain operational, while key manufacturers are allowed to resume production after a brief halt, state media reported.

China has largely kept virus outbreaks under control over the past two years through strict zero-tolerance measures including mass lockdowns of cities and provinces for even small numbers of cases.

But Omicron has proven harder to stamp out.

At a press briefing on Monday, health expert Wu Fan said it was "necessary to take more resolute measures" to eliminate community transmission.

Other updates

1. Hong Kong reported 7,685 new Covid-19 cases on Monday as infections in the global financial hub gradually stabilised for the first time after the recent Omicron drive surge, news agency Reuters reported.

2. In mainland China's most important international city - Shanghai - over 4,400 fresh cases were registered on Monday in a new high, Reuters reported. The city is witnessing the strictest curbs in nearly two years with a fresh lockdown.

3. The Shanghai government is allowing some manufacturers to run ‘closed loop systems’ where employees keep working as long as they’re confined in or close to the factory campus and adhere to mitigation measures, a report by Bloomberg said.

4. While the rest of the world is battling a fresh spike, India has seen a downward trend. The US has eased Covid-19 travel ratings for India and some other countries on Monday. Top regulator body CDC said it had changed its Covid travel recommendation for India from ‘Level 3: High risk' to ‘Level 2: Low risk’.

5. French health authorities said on Monday the number of patients hospitalised for Covid over the past 24 hours has jumped by 467 to 21,073. This marks the highest daily rise in Covid-19 hospitalisation in France since February 1, according to reports.

6. Italy has logged more than 90,000 new patients in just two days as the country battles Omicron driven surge. Italy reported 30,710 Covid-19 related cases on Monday, against 59,555 the day before, Reuters reported quoting the country’s health ministry.

7. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday. “He feels well and will work while self-isolating at home,” his office said.

8. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Monday he did not agree with a planned intellectual property waiver for Covid-19 vaccines as patents are a crucial way of encouraging companies to continue pushing ahead with new research.

9. Some experts have said that vaccine inequity is to blame for the recurring surge in Covid cases.

10. The WHO has been repeatedly warning that the pandemic is far from over.

With inputs from AFP.