ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported 3,795 coronavirus cases during the past 24 hours, which is the highest number in last five months as the country on July 03, 2020 detected 4,087 cases, the Covid-19 data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said here on Monday.

After the emergence of 3,795 cases within the past 24 hours, the nationwide coronavirus tally has reached to 420,294, while 37 people have died of the Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the death tally to 8,398, the NCOC said.

According to the NCOC as the country struggles to contain the second wave of virus, the positivity rate has reached near 10 percent as it was recorded at 9.71 percent.

For the first time in five months, the country's case positivity rate climbed to 9.71 percent with SARS-CoV-2 being detected in 3,795 samples out of the total 39,076 PCR tests conducted throughout Pakistan.

Sindh with 15.83 percent positivity rate is on top followed by the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) with 11.93 percent, Balochistan with 11.61 percent, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with 8.22 percent, Islamabad with 8.20 percent, Punjab 5.54 percent, and Gilgit-Baltistan with 2.89 percent.

With 37 new deaths, the Covid-19 death toll has climbed to 8,398.

There are 55,354 active cases across the country, of which 2,539 are in critical care. Condition of 103 patients has deteriorated in the past 24 hours.

With a seven-day average of over 3,000 cases, Pakistan has recorded 22,271 new cases in the past week.

However, the mortality rate has fallen to 1.9 percent from 2.0 percent in the last week.

The country has a recovery rate of over 84 percent as 356,542 patients have defeated the virus, since the outbreak surfaced in February this year.

In the past 24 hours, the highest positivity rate has been observed in Karachi at 21.31 percent followed by Abbottabad at 17.86 percent, and Peshawar 16.66 percent, Hyderabad recorded positivity rate of 14 percent while Rawalpindi reported 12.09 percent, and Lahore 9.74 percent.

To contain the spread of the Covid-19, the government has imposed various restrictions across the country as per the recommendations of the NCOC.

The federal government has made face masks mandatory in public places, limited large public gatherings to 300 persons, banned indoor weddings, closed shrines, cinemas, and theatres, and instructed public and private offices to adopt work-from-home policy and 50 percent occupancy.

The federal government also announced that educational institutes will remain closed from November 26 to January 10.

The students will study at home or get weekly homework till December 24, and winter vacations will start from December 25.

The schools will reopen on January 11 - which is subject to the coronavirus situation then.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020