Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Pakistan’s death toll from the coronavirus rose to 459 after reports of more deaths in the country and confirmed new cases reached 20,130 after surge in number of patients in Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The provice-wise tally of Covid-19 patients stands at 7,494 cases in Punjab, 7,465 in Sindh, 3,129 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,218 in Balochistan, 364 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 393 in Islamabad and 67 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Punjab on Sunday reported 640 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, the highest jump in a day. The health department also recorded six new deaths in Punjab, taking the provincial death toll to 121. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said that 6,000 tests will be carried out daily from today. He said the Punjab government will begin the first phase of smart testing in six regions including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujrat, Faisalabad and Gujranwala.
A street in Muzaffargarh’s Sheikhupura area was sealed after four members of a family tested positive for the virus, announced deputy commissioner of the area. According to AJK health department, four new cases were reported in the region taking the its tally to 71. Twenty-eight new cases have been reported in Islamabad and one in Azad Jammu and Kashmir during the last 24 hours. Two hundred and twenty-two coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after 222 new cases, according to the provincial health minister, Taimur Jhagra. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department said that 40 nursing staff have been tested positive for the coronavirus. The province also recorded eight more deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 180. Sindh has reported another 363 coronavirus cases as of Sunday as well as eight infection-related deaths, said Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in a statement. “It is for the first time that the recovery ratio seems to be encouraging…and is comparatively better [than the death ratio],” the CM observed, adding, however, that local transmission of the virus was on the rise. Terming the increase in local transmission “worrisome,” he remarked, “We have tried to contain it [the coronavirus] but people [continue] to ignore and violate standard operating procedures as well as social distancing instructions.”
