Coronavirus: Pakistan reports 2,521 new cases, 43 deaths

ISLAMABAD – At least 43 people lost their lives due to the novel coronavirus infection while 2,521 fresh cases have reported in the last 24 hours, National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said Sunday.

According to the latest figures, the number of positive cases has surged to 519,291 while the nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 10,951.

As of Sunday, the total count of active cases is 34,701.

At least 1,540 patients have recovered from the virus in a day while the total number of recoveries stands at 473,639.

Sindh remains at the top in terms of cases followed by Punjab and other regions.

Till now 234,654 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 149,222 in Punjab 63,339 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 40,019 in Islamabad, 18,569 in Balochistan, 8,606 in Azad Kashmir, and 4,882 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 4,409 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab 3,775 in Sindh, 1,779 in KP, 456 in Islamabad, 241 in Azad Kashmir, 190 in Balochistan, and 101 in GB.

Pakistan has so far conducted 7,367,622 coronavirus tests and 41,191 samples have been tested in the last 24 hours.

Earlier on Friday, with the Covid-19 infection rate reaching the alarming level of 9 percent in Lahore, the pandemic killed 22 more people in Punjab. The statistics showed the Punjab capital as a hotspot for the virus where the total number of deaths reached 1,730 while the number of positive cases went up to 73,897.

On the other hand, the drug regulatory authority has issued approval for the emergency use of a vaccine, developed by British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, in Pakistan.

It has become the first vaccine to be approved by the South Asian nation of over 200 million people.