Pakistan has reported 650 coronavirus infections and two deaths during the last 24 hours (Saturday) as the latest Covid-19 wave spread its tentacles across the country, showed the figures released by the statistics issued by the National Institute of Health Pakistan on Sunday morning.

As per the NIH data, the death toll in Pakistan has soared to 30,401 after adding the two fatalities whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,537,947 after adding the fresh 650 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Saturday), 16,755 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 3.88 percent. The number of patients in critical care was recorded at 138.

https://twitter.com/NIH_Pakistan/status/1543418597892030464

During the last 24 hours (Saturday), another 106 patients recovered from the Covid-19 in Pakistan and the number of total recoveries now stood at 1,500,046. As of Sunday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 7,500.

As many as 582,115 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 508,710 in Punjab, 220,096 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 136,289 in Islamabad, 35,568 in Balochistan, 43,407 in Azad Kashmir and 11,762 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

As many as 13,573 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 8,117 in Sindh, 6,324 in KP, 1,026 in Islamabad, 792 in Azad Kashmir, 378 in Balochistan and 191 in Gilgit Baltistan.

India's active cases cross 1.10 lakh-mark

A decline in coronavirus cases was reported in India on Sunday, according to the data issued by the Ministry of Health. India logged 16,103 new Covid infections raising the tally to 43,502,429 while the active cases increased to 1,11,711, the ministry's data noted.
   The death toll has climbed to 5,25,199 with 31 new fatalities, data updated by the ministry at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 0.26% of the total infections. The national Covid-19 recovery rate was 98.54%, the health ministry said.

An increase of 2,143 cases has been recorded in the active Covid-19 case count in a span of 24 hours. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 4.27%, while the weekly positivity rate was recorded at 3.81%, according to the ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,28,65,519. The case fatality rate was 1.21%.

Several states in the country are witnessing an uptrend in Covid-19 cases. West Bengal reported 1,499 new cases on Saturday. On the other hand, Mumbai recorded 811 new coronavirus cases. Karnataka clocked 975 fresh Covid infections and one death. Tamil Nadu logged 2,533 new coronavirus cases yesterday while Chennai accounted for the majority of new cases at 1,059.

According to the ministry, 197.95 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide inoculation drive.

Australia surpasses 10,000 Covid deaths

Australia has surpassed the grim milestone of 10,000 Covid-19 deaths, as authorities urge people to remain vigilant against the disease.

The country’s toll from the virus stood at 9,984 on Saturday, and tipped past the 10,000 mark with Sunday’s numbers.

New South Wales reported an additional two Covid deaths, while Victoria reported another 22.

Ahead of a health ministers’ meeting, the federal health minister, Mark Butler, said authorities were expecting a further wave of the virus in the coming months.
He pointed to the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants taking hold across the country.

“We’ve seen overseas that there is a greater risk of reinfection, so if you have had Covid earlier this year in the first wave over summer, there is a risk that you are open to reinfection,” Butler said.

“I do encourage you to go out and get that booster – it will provide further protection against the possibility of reinfection with these new subvariants over the coming months.”

Queensland reported no new Covid deaths on Sunday after the state’s chief health officer, John Gerrard, said on Saturday there was increasing pressure to bring back mask mandates.

The state’s minister for health and ambulance services, Yvette D’Ath, said on Sunday there was no change in mask rules.

“I don’t have any recommendations from the chief health officer here in Queensland to do that,” she said.

“But we do remind people as we go through this third wave that they can make those decisions [about when to wear masks] for themselves.”

On Australia surpassing 10,000 deaths, D’Ath said people needed to remind themselves of the virus’s continuing global impact, with people still dying every day.
“Our health workers would prefer to not have to be caring for people who are seriously unwell with Covid, who are in ICU, and sadly, who are passing away with [the disease],” she said.

“There’s something we can do to at least ease the burden on our health workers who are dealing with these Covid deaths and that is getting vaccinated and encouraging [others] … to get vaccinated.”