Pakistan has reported 30 more Covid-19 infections with no death during the last 24 hours (Thursday), showed the statistics released by the National Institute of Health (NIH) on Friday morning.
According to the NIH data, the death toll in the country remained the same at 30,630 whereas the number of total infections now rose to 1,575,039 after adding the fresh 30 cases. During the last 24 hours (Thursday), 6,953 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 0.43 percent.
The number of patients in critical care was 43. China has imposed a fresh series of Covid lockdowns, including in a city where workers at the world’s largest iPhone factory clashed with police this week, as a record daily high in coronavirus cases tests its commitment to follow the rest of the world in easing pandemic restrictions.
The national health commission reported 31,444 new locally transmitted Covid cases on Wednesday, the highest daily figure since the coronavirus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late in 2019.
The government responded by tightening Covid restrictions in cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and ordering mass testing.
In Zhengzhou, in the central province of Henan, where there were clashes on Tuesday and Wednesday between police and protesting workers from Foxconn’s iPhone factory, authorities announced a five-day lockdown for approximately 6 million people.
Residents were ordered to stay at home and carry out daily PCR tests in a “war of annihilation” against the virus.
One worker told a news agency that the protests had begun over a dispute about promised bonuses at the Foxconn factory and “chaotic” living conditions.
Foxconn, the Taiwan-based owner of the factory, which employs about 200,000 people in Zhengzhou, has been desperate to keep operations going after a handful of Covid cases forced it to lock down the facility, and it recruited new workers from across the country on favourable packages to replace the thousands who last month walked away. Employees said protests started after the company changed the terms of their pay.
Videos online showed thousands of people in masks facing rows of police in white protective suits with plastic riot shields. Police kicked and hit one protester with clubs after he grabbed a metal pole that had been used to strike him. —INP
