Pakistan's active Covid-19 cases jump to 78,595 as intensity of 4th wave increases

Karachi: Pakistan's total number of active coronavirus cases jumped to 78,595 on Wednesday as the country continued its struggle to curb the spread of the virus amid fears of the deadly Delta variant.

During the first wave, the active number of cases rose to as high as 108,642 on July 1, 2020. During the second wave, the active number of Covid-19 cases was recorded at 49,780 on December 1, 2020.

This year on April 30, during the third wave, Pakistan recorded 90,553 active cases. However, the country has seen an increase in its active number of cases from 30,000 to 70,000 during the current fourth wave, shooting from 31,606 on June 29 to 78,595 on August 3.

The latest data by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed that 57,398 tests were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours. Out of these new tests, 4,722 came out positive, a slight increase from 3,582 reported on August 2.

So far, 16,215,728 tests have been conducted out of which 1,047,999 came out positive. During the last 24 hours, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir collectively reported 672 new cases.

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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 556 Covid-19 cases, Punjab recorded 934 infections, while Sindh reported the highest number of cases at 2,438.

The national positivity ratio was recorded at 8.22%, while the critical cases have jumped to 3,858 during the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, 1,454 recoveries were recorded across the country, taking the total number to 945,829.

The country's death toll rose to 23,575 after 46 more people succumbed to the virus in the past 24 hours.

With the rapid spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19, the government is rushing to vaccinate its population. As per NCOC, 1,139,580 doses of the coronavirus vaccine were administered during the last 24 hours.

On August 2, the country surpassed its highest tally for jabs in a single day after over 1 million doses were administered.

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"Happy to report that the target we had set for 1 million vaccinations in a day was crossed yesterday with 10 lakh 72 thousand vaccinations," Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar announced in a tweet on Tuesday.

He further said that all federating entities contributed with Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad all doing record numbers.

"Amazing performance by all involved," Umar tweeted.

Since Pakistan started its immunisation drive, it has administered a total of 33,059,676 doses of the Covid-19 vaccines.

The government plans to inoculate 40 percent of the population in big cities by the end of August and 70 million by the end of this year. It has also committed to spending $1.1 billion on procuring the Covid-19 vaccine to inoculate its people.