Pakistan reported 554 cases on October 19, the lowest in a year, as the country continued to witness a steady decline in its daily infections.

On October 18 last year, the country had reported 440 positive cases.

During the last 24 hours, 42,126 tests were conducted nationwide, taking the total number of tests taken to 20,321,823. Since the Covid-19 outbreak, Pakistan has reported 1,266,204 positive cases, according to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

Out of the new infections, Punjab reported 138 cases, Sindh (278), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (88), Balochistan (5), Islamabad (39), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (6).

Gilgit-Baltistan reported no new cases.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus positivity ratio continued to remain below 2% for the fifth consecutive day and now stands at 1.31%. Pakistan's active Covid-19 cases stand at 25,205, while there are 1,783 critical cases.

Covid-19 positivity ratio falls to 1.8pc

During the last 24 hours, the novel virus claimed 12 more deaths, taking the death toll to 28,312. The country has reported 977 coronavirus recoveries during the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 1,212,687 while the recovery rate is 95.8%.

So far, over 95 million doses have been administered in the country.

Pakistan has steadily seen a decline in its daily infections with the situation easing amid the country's vaccination drive.

Authorities have also gradually expanded the inoculation, while easing restrictions that recently saw educational institutes opening throughout the country. Similarly, vaccination has been expanded to include school children with the threshold being lowered to 12 years of age.