Pakistan has registered another 29 coronavirus deaths and 955 infections during the last 24 hours (Friday), showed the statistics released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday morning.

As per the NCOC figures, after the addition of 29 new deaths, the overall toll has now surged to 28,087 whereas the number of total infections now stood at 1,251,188 after adding the fresh 955 cases.

During the last 24 hours (Friday), a total of 44,557 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 2.14 percent. The number of patients in critical care was 2,644.

https://twitter.com/OfficialNcoc/status/1446648692656640003

During the last 24 hours (Friday), as many as 1,222 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 1,186,749. As of Saturday, the total count of active cases in the country was recorded at 43,352.

As many as 462,295 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 435,512 in Punjab, 175,584 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 106,058 in Islamabad, 33,069 in Balochistan, 34,326 in Azad Kashmir and 10,344 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, 12,770 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab so far, 7,480 in Sindh, 5,632 in KP, 931 in Islamabad, 739 in Azad Kashmir, 349 in Balochistan and 186 in Gilgit Baltistan.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are the global developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- Russia death toll upgraded -
Russia's Federal Statistics Agency Rosstat says that 49,389 people died of coronavirus in August -- more than double the official government figure, bringing the agency's tally of Covid-19 deaths in Russia to over 400,000. 

- Delta hits US jobs -
The US economy gains only 194,000 jobs in September as the Delta variant of Covid-19 again denies President Joe Biden the soaring labour market he is banking on.

- Portugal meets jab goal -
Portugal has reached its goal of vaccinating 85 percent of its population against Covid-19 and will administer a third booster dose to people 65 years of age and over, health authorities say.

- Covid debt relief -
The IMF approves a fourth round of debt relief for 24 poor nations including new recipients Lesotho and Kyrgyzstan to help them weather the Covid-19 pandemic.

- Kante returns -
French footballer N'Golo Kante returns to training at Chelsea following a period of self-isolation after he tested positive for coronavirus.

- Ashes nod -
The England and Wales Cricket Board gives  "conditional approval" to England's Ashes tour of Australia starting in December, after fears it would be cancelled over tough Covid-19 quarantine guidelines.

- More than 4.8 million dead -
The coronavirus has killed at least 4,830,270 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data. 

The US is the worst-affected country with 710,180 deaths, followed by Brazil with 599,810, India with 450,127, Mexico 281,121 and Russia with 214,485.

Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were the US with 2,508 new deaths, followed by Russia with 936 and Mexico with 514. 

With inputs from AFP.