A senior American diplomat stationed at the US embassy in Islamabad was tested positive for the coronavirus, reported 24NewsHD TV channel on Thursday.

Quoting sources, it was said that the diplomat was diagnosed with the virus on Tuesday after which the information was shared with other staff members through an email.

The spokesperson for the US embassy confirmed the report but added that they would not share the name for ensuring privacy.

The State Department, the spokesperson said, was responsible for the safety of US nationals no matter where they were in the world.

The statement said they were working with the Pakistani authorities to implement the protocol – isolation, contact tracing and quarantine – so that the coronavirus spread could be stopped.

The news about the US diplomat came amid the reports rapid spread of coronavirus in Islamabad and after Pakistan reached yet another tragic milestone as it surpassed China in the total number of coronavirus cases.

During the past 24 hours [Wednesday], another 82 deaths were also reported, raising the death toll to 1,770 in the country.

With the addition of 4,688 newly-infected persons, Pakistan now has 85,264 cases against 83,022 in China, proving the fears that the country has yet to experience the worst in the current pandemic.

It also means that the daily record of new coronavirus cases has been broken on three consecutive days. It was 4,131 on Tuesday and 3,938 on Monday.

Most of the new cases were reported in Sindh where the total has jumped to 32,910 from the previous level of 31,086 recorded Tuesday, the figures released by National Command and Operation Centre showed on Thursday.

Punjab is second with the cases currently standing at 31,104 followed by 11,373 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 5,224 in Balochistan, 3,544 in Islamabad, 824 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 285 in Azad Kashmir.

The abovementioned figures again reveals the alarming trend being witnessed in Islamabad as 356 new cases are recorded in the federal capital, which is very high given the small population size we have there.

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