ISLAMABAD
The deadly coronavirus continued to witness an alarming upsurge in the country, as a total of 1,293 infections were reported, which is the highest since October last year as the country’s overall tally also crossed 1.3 million.
As per the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 51,145 tests were conducted during the last 24 hours. Since the start of the pandemic, Pakistan has confirmed 1,301,141 Covid-19 cases. Currently, there are 14,094 active Covid-19 cases and 609 critical cases in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the virus claimed six more lives, taking the fatalities to 28,961. Meanwhile, 239 people recovered during the last 24 hours, taking the total number to 1,258,086.
In a tweet, the NCOC said that 758,688 doses were administered during the last 24 hours, taking the total number to 161,409,693. Earlier this week, the forum announced that 32% of the total population and 47% of the eligible population have been vaccinated in the country against Covid-19.
Meanwhile, an alarming surge in coronavirus cases in Karachi has been witnessed, the positivity ratio of the megacity reached 10.25% as 650 people were found infected with the virus overnight, the federal ministry of health said Friday.
As per the statistics issued by the ministry, 6,340 tests were conducted in Karachi during the last 24 hours out of which 650 returned positive taking the positivity ratio above 10%.
The health ministry officials said that the reason behind the rising cases in Karachi is an outbreak of the Omicron variant.
“Omicron is replacing the other variants of coronavirus while Delta and Kappa variant cases are declining,” the officials said.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said infections with the Omicron variant are constantly on the rise, especially in Karachi, where the positivity rate of COVID-19 cases is rising alarmingly due to the rapidly spreading variant of the coronavirus, and urged people to follow the standard operating procedures. CM Shah said that between December 28, 2021 and January 2, 2022, whole-genome sequencing of 133 samples was carried out, of which 95 were detected as Omicron, taking the variant’s tally to 268 in the province. He added that a few cases have travel histories, otherwise most of them were locally transmitted.
It may be noted that Sindh had 173 Omicron cases earlier, and with the emergence of 95 new cases, the number has increased to 268. “It shows that the new variant is spreading fast and needs to be controlled through precautionary measures,” said the CM.
As of Thursday, CM Shah said that two more patients of the coronavirus died, lifting the death toll to 7,678, which constituted a 1.6% death rate.
