Pakistan has recorded a couple dozen more Covid-19 infections and no fatality during the last 24 hours (Wednesday), showed the statistics released by the National Institute of Health (NIH) on Thursday morning, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

According to the NIH data, the death toll in the country remained the same at 30,634 whereas the number of total infections now rose to 1,575,406 after adding the fresh 24 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Wednesday), 7,451 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio slumped to 0.32 percent. The number of patients in critical care was 26.

https://twitter.com/NIH_Pakistan/status/1600670729648889857

During the last 24 hours (Wednesday), as many as 34 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 1,544,087. As of Thursday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at just 685.

As many as 595,356 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 523,189 in Punjab, 224,781 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 139,633 in Islamabad, 36,026 in Balochistan, 44,336 in Azad Kashmir and 12,085 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 13,616 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 8,251 in Sindh, 6,374 in KP, 1,031 in Islamabad, 793 in Azad Kashmir, 378 in Balochistan and 191 in Gilgit Baltistan.

Swiss deny Covid wave after Portugal World Cup defeat

Switzerland team chiefs denied Wednesday that several sick players were suffering from the coronavirus as they sought to explain their World Cup humbling by Portugal.

At least three players were affected during their 6-1 defeat in the round of 16 on Tuesday.

Coach Murat Yakin said Tuesday that Silvan Widmer had been suffering from "fever" and "cold symptoms", Fabian Schaer was replaced at half-time because he was struggling with breathlessness and Nico Elvedi, who did not play, was "not 100 percent".

Sports director Pierluigi Tami told a press conference on Wednesday: "It was not a question of Covid. It was a virus that spread in the hotel. Not all, but some players caught it.

"We knew about the problem (the virus) and had made recommendations to the team. At the start, it was not a problem.

"Of course we will see if we can do things better in the future."

Several Swiss players have suffered during the World Cup from what the team management has called "colds".

"We were lacking in freshness. Unfortunately, we had several players who were sick or suffering and our opponents were stronger," Yakin said after the game.

The coach blamed the defeat on the "energy" spent in the first three games.

Portugal will play Morocco in Saturday's quarter final.

With inputs from AFP.