44 more succumb to coronavirus in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The coronavirus has claimed 44 more lives in the past 24 hours as the second wave continues to wreak havoc in the country.

With 3,119 new cases - the third consecutive daily rise of over 3,000 infections - the country’s tally has reached 413,191, according to data shared by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Saturday.

In the past 24 hours, Sindh recorded the highest number of cases at 1,664 while 540 new infections were reported in Punjab, 419 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 353 in Islamabad, 68 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 59 in Balochistan, and 16 in Gilgit Baltistan.

The number of active cases has climbed to 52,359 with 2,441 patients in critical care. The NCOC data showed 352, 529 people have recovered from COVID-19 across the country so far.

At least 44 people succumbed to the virus on Friday, raising the total death toll to 8,303. Punjab witnessed the most deaths as the virus claimed 22 lives across the province. At least 10 people died of coronavirus in KP while Sindh's death toll rose by eight, Islamabad's by two, and one patient passed away in AJK. GB and Balochistan reported no COVID-19 deaths.

Abbottabad reported a coronavirus case positivity rate of 17.57% on Friday and along with Rawalpindi's 15.26%, and Karachi's 14.31% is among the cities with the most prevalent outbreak. A case positivity rate of 12.13% was observed in Hyderabad, 10.63% in Peshawar, and 10.61% in Muzaffarabad. At 0.44%, Gwadar has the lowest positivity rate followed by Multan at 2.06%.

Province-wise, the outbreak appears to be most prevalent in AJK with an 11.24% positivity rate, followed by Sindh at 10.74%, Balochistan at 10.46%, KP at 9.68%, Islamabad at 5.27%, Punjab at 4.15%, and GB at 3.92%.

The country's positivity rate stands at 7.59%.