Pakistan reported 48 new deaths and 2,435 infections from coronavirus after conducting 38,369 tests with a positivity ratio of 6.35 percent during the last 24 hours (Thursday), showed figures of National Command and Operation Centre released on Friday morning.

With the addition of 2,435 new infections, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases has reached 497,510 after conducting a huge number of tests: 7,002,706. Of the total cases, Punjab has 143,511 patients, Sindh 222,999, Balochistan 18,314, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 60,536, Islamabad 38,842, Gilgit Baltistan 4,878 and Azad Kashmir 8,430.

The number of total deaths has risen to 10,558 after adding 48 new ones while the number of recoveries stands at 453,828 after an increase of 3,313.

There are currently 33,124 active cases of COVID-19 in the country, with the NCOC saying 2,285 of them are in critical condition.

Punjab: On Friday, authorities reported 18 deaths due to the coronavirus, raising total casualties to 4,221. The province now has 143,511 confirmed cases; it reported 676 new infections after conducting 14,804 tests, a positivity ratio of 4.56 percent. There were 219 new recoveries recorded, leaving 129,321 fully recovered, and 9,969 active cases of the virus.

Sindh: Confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in Sindh have now climbed to 222,999; it reported 1,265 new infections on Friday after conducting 12,461 tests, a positivity ratio of 10.15 percent. The province reported 17 new deaths, raising toll to 3,670, while its recoveries rose by 2,385 to 202,034. Overall, the province now has 17,295 active cases of the novel coronavirus.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: In the past 24 hours, the provincial government has recorded 307 new infections after conducting 5,581 tests, a positivity ratio of 5.5 percent. Overall, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s confirmed cases have climbed to 60,536. It recorded 8 new deaths, raising toll to 1,710, while its recoveries have risen by 356 to 55,728. There are currently 3,098 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.

Balochistan: The province on Friday raised its confirmed cases to 18,314 with 14 new infections after conducting 500 tests, a positivity ratio of 2.8 percent. There were no deaths and 10 recoveries in the past 24 hours, leaving 186 fatalities and 17,893 fully recovered. There are now 235 active cases of COVID-19 in the province.

Islamabad: Islamabad on Friday raised its confirmed coronavirus cases by 155 to 38,842 after conducting 4,492 tests; a positivity ratio of 3.45 percent. There were 3 deaths and 315 recoveries in the past 24 hours, leaving 436 casualties; 36,231 recovered; and 2,175 active cases.

Gilgit Baltistan: Gilgit Baltistan reported 4 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Friday after conducting 312 tests, a positivity ratio of 1.28 percent. It now has 4,878 confirmed cases. The region reported no deaths and five recoveries, leaving 101 fatalities and 4,727 fully recovered people. There are currently 50 active cases of COVID-19 in the region.

Azad Kashmir: Azad Kashmir’s confirmed cases rose by 14 to 8,430 after conducting 219 tests, a positivity ratio of 6.39 percent. There were 2 deaths and 23 recoveries in the past 24 hours, leaving 234 fatalities and 7,894 fully recovered. It now has 302 active cases of COVID-19.

Global developments

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- 'Alarming' tipping point -

The World Health Organization's European branch says more needs to be done to deal with what it calls "a tipping-point in the course of the pandemic".

"This is an alarming situation, which means that for a short period of time we need to do more than we have done and to intensify the public health and social measures," regional director Hans Kluge says.

- French new strain clusters -

French Prime Minister Jean Castex says that border restrictions with Britain will remain in place "until further notice" to prevent the spread of the new variant sweeping Britain.

France has detected two risk clusters of the mutant coronavirus variant in a care home in the western French region of Brittany, and in Bagneux, a southern suburb of Paris, the health ministry says.

- Spain hits two million cases -

Spain's total number of coronavirus infections surged past two million as cases jumped following the Christmas holidays, according to government figures. 

The health ministry announced another 42,360 new cases over the past 48 hours, taking the overall figure to 2,024,904, although seroprevalence studies suggest the figure is far higher. 

- Japan calls emergency -

Japan's government declares a month-long state of emergency in the Tokyo area as the capital reports another record surge in daily infections.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga describes a "great sense of crisis" as he announces the measure.

Tokyo records 2,447 new cases -- shattering the previous record of 1,591 logged a day earlier.

- China alarm bell -

China reports 63 new infections -- the highest daily tally since July -- as authorities try to stamp out an outbreak in the city of Shijiazhuang in northern Hebei province.

- Scramble for beds -

Hospital chiefs in England race for beds as the surge in cases risks running out control, medics say.

A leaked briefing suggests that even in a relatively positive scenario, London's hospitals could be overwhelmed in less than two weeks.

- Premier League's woes -

Aston Villa becomes the fourth Premier League club to suffer a Covid-19 outbreak in the last two months with growing concerns over whether the English top-flight can complete the season on schedule.

- US jobless claims still high -

The United States saw 787,000 new applications for unemployment benefits in the last week of 2020, the Labor Department says, indicating layoffs remain widespread months into the coronavirus pandemic.

- 1.8 million dead -          

The coronavirus has killed at least 1,884,187 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally on Thursday based on official sources.

The US is the worst-affected country with 361,297 deaths, followed by Brazil with 198,974, India with 150,336 and Mexico with 129,987.

The number of deaths globally is broadly under-estimated. The toll is calculated from daily figures published by national health authorities and does not include any later revisions by statistics agencies.

With inputs from AFP.