Pakistan has registered another 953 coronavirus infections and 11 deaths during the last 24 hours (Thursday), showed the statistics released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday morning.

As per the latest NCOC data, after the addition of 11 new deaths, the overall toll has now surged to 30,248 whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,511,754 after adding the fresh 953 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Thursday), 36,678 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 2.59 percent. The number of patients in critical care was 890.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1499551972256624640

During the last 24 hours (Thursday), as many as 2,605 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 1,451,665. As of Thursday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 30,794.

As many as 569,338 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 502,264 in Punjab, 216,614 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 134,519 in Islamabad, 35,361 in Balochistan, 43,068 in Azad Kashmir and 11,543 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 13,513 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 8,083 in Sindh, 6,283 in KP, 1,014 in Islamabad, 788 in Azad Kashmir, 376 in Balochistan and 191 in Gilgit Baltistan.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are the global developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- Anti-virus pill gets green light -
The World Health Organization says Merck's anti-Covid pill, molnupiravir, should be taken by sufferers who have mild symptoms but are at high risk of hospitalisation, such as older people or the unvaccinated.

- France to end vaccine pass -
France will on March 14 end most Covid-19 restrictions and scrap its vaccine pass for eating out or attending cultural events, prime minister Jean Castex says.

- US runs out of Covid cash -
The White House is asking Congress for $22.5 billion in emergency funding to combat Covid-19 after exhausting nearly all the money set aside for the pandemic, officials say.

- HK mass testing plan criticised -
One of Hong Kong's top coronavirus experts, microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung, joins criticism over plans to test the entire city, saying doing so during its worst-ever outbreak will have little impact.

- Sri Lanka ends Muslim burial policy -  
Sri Lanka ends a heavily criticised policy that required Muslim Covid-19 victims to be buried at a remote government-designated site in the absence of their families or final religious rites.

- Nearly six million dead -
Coronavirus has killed at least 5,969,893 since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on Thursday.

The United States has recorded the most Covid deaths with 954,519, followed by Brazil on 650,000, and India on 514,388.

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

With inputs from AFP.