As global toll tops 6 million, Pakistan reports 758 more corona cases

As the death toll crossed the six million mark worldwide from Covid-19 since the pandemic began, Pakistan has recorded another 758 coronavirus cases and six deaths during the last 24 hours (Tuesday), showed the figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday morning.

As per the latest NCOC data, after the addition of six new deaths, the overall toll has now surged to 30,287 whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,516,150 after adding the fresh 758 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), 36,569 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 2.07 percent. The number of patients in critical care was 722.

Statistics 9 Mar 22:
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 36,569
Positive Cases: 758
Positivity %: 2.07%
Deaths :6
Patients on Critical Care: 722

— NFRCC (@NFRCCofficial) March 9, 2022

During the last 24 hours (Tuesday), as many as 12,103 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 1,467,868. As of Wednesday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 17,995.

As many as 570,688 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 503,128 in Punjab, 217,503 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 134,700 in Islamabad, 35,399 in Balochistan, 43,140 in Azad Kashmir and 11,592 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 13,535 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 8,085 in Sindh, 6,291 in KP, 1,019 in Islamabad, 789 in Azad Kashmir, 377 in Balochistan and 191 in Gilgit Baltistan.

Over six million have died from Covid

Over six million people have died worldwide from Covid-19 since the pandemic began, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Tuesday.

A total of 6,003,081 people have succumbed to the virus, AFP counted at 1100 GMT.

The milestone comes as the number of infections and deaths continues to plummet in most regions of the world, except in Asia, where Hong Kong is suffering its worst-ever outbreak, and Oceania, where New Zealand has recorded a jump in cases.

Average global daily deaths over the past seven days have fallen to 7,170, down 18 percent in a week, continuing a trend seen since the peak of the Omicron wave in early February despite many countries relaxing restrictions.

US Covid toll

The United States has recorded 960,311 deaths from the coronavirus, followed by Brazil on 652,341 and India on 515,210.

While much of the world is learning to live with the disease, China remains committed to stamping it out and has instructed Hong Kong to also pursue a zero-tolerance approach.

Hong Kong’s controversial plan

Hong Kong has launched controversial plans to test all 7.4 million residents and build a network of isolation camps. The number of weekly infections in the city has doubled in a week to 290,987 while the number of deaths has more than tripled to 1,543.

In regional terms Europe -- which is defined widely by the World Health Organization to include Russia, Israel and countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia -- is currently reporting the largest number of cases.

It also accounted last week for nearly two fifths of the world's deaths.

Countries reporting the highest death rates in proportion of their population were Hong Kong with 20.58 per 100,000 inhabitants, Latvia (6.42), Georgia (5.89), Denmark (5.13), and Hungary (5.04).

AFP's tally is based on Covid-19 deaths reported by national health authorities. 

The World Health Organization believes that the real figure could be two to three times higher.

With inputs from AFP.