Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Pakistan on Tuesday confirmed 1,315 new coronavirus cases during the past 24 hours, recording the highest single-day jump to date as the government moved to ease lockdown restrictions in the coming days. The previous spike was on Saturday when 1297 cases were reported.
According to figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre, 24 new deaths were caused by the flu virus and 1,315 new infections were recorded in the country, taking the national tally to 22,223 with 514 fatalities.
Of these, 8189 were reported in Sindh, 8133 in Punjab, 3499 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 1,495 in Balochistan, 372 in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 71 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 5,801 patents have recovered from the disease, the NCOC stated in its update.
Sources say, “4,405 patients are admitted across the country in 736 hospitals with Covid-19 facilities. Of these, 186 are in critical condition.”
Punjab Healthcare department spokesperson said that the province recorded 491 new cases Tuesday, after which the provincial tally reached 8,133. He said that so far the province has recorded 44 deaths.
The Punjab government has announced that it will financially help artists who have been struggling due to the coronavirus lockdown in the country.
“The Punjab government will help 3,000 artists,” Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said in a statement. He added the artists will receive Rs15,000 to Rs20,000 as financial aid.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that the province has recorded 307 new cases within the past 24 hours, after which the provincial tally reached 8,189. According to him, out of 2,250 tests more than 300 tested positive. He said that the provincial death toll reached 148 after 11 deaths were recorded across the province. The chief minister said that so far, the province has conducted 68,873 tests, out of which 2,250 were conducted over the past 24 hours.
According to the KP health department, 211 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the province, taking the provincial tally to 3,499. The province’s death toll from the virus rose to 194 with nine new deaths reported — five in Peshawar and one each in Charsadda, Mardan, Mansehra and Haripur.
The Balochistan government has extended the ongoing lockdown for 15 more days in view of the mounting coronavirus cases across the province.
