Pakistan reports sharp drop in corona deaths, infections in a day

Pakistan has recorded a significant drop in the single-day coronavirus deaths and fatalities, showed the statistics released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Friday morning.

The single-day deaths reported during the last 24 hours (Thursday) were 48, for days the number of fatalities were hovered over 100 and once it crossed the 200 mark.

The SOPs strictly imposed by the government during the Eid holidays lockdown also seemed working as the number of infections during the last 24 hours (Thursday) were under 3,000. This is the first time that the single-day infections have dropped below 3,000 while average between 4,000 and 5,000 during the Covid-19 third wave.

During the last 24 hours, Pakistan recorded 2,517 new coronavirus infections.

The death toll has now surged to 19,384 while the number of confirmed cases stood at 873,220.

Statistics 14 May 21:
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 30,700
Positive Cases: 2517
Positivity % : 8.19%
Deaths : 48

— NFRCC (@NFRCCofficial) May 14, 2021

During the past 24 hours (Thursday), 4,123 patients have recovered from the virus whereas the total recoveries stood at 780,438. As of Friday, the total count of active cases was recorded at 73,398, while the positivity rate was dropped at 8.19 percent.

As many as 296,364 coronavirus cases have so far been confirmed in Sindh, 324,106 in Punjab, 126,403 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 78,969 in Islamabad, 23,778 in Balochistan, 18,186 in Azad Kashmir and 5,414 in Gilgit Baltistan.

Moreover, 9,282 individuals have lost their lives to the pandemic in Punjab, 4,780 in Sindh, 3,723 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 724 in Islamabad, 511 in Azad Kashmir, 257 in Balochistan, and 107 in Gilgit Baltistan.

The health facilities across the country conducted 30,700 coronavirus detection tests, taking the total number of COVID-19 tests to 12,380,67 since the first case was reported earlier last year.

Vaccine to the NCOC, 3,997,186 people have been vaccinated so far, with the latest vaccination administration figure across Pakistan on May 12 being 113,302.

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENTS

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- China backs talks on vaccine IP waiver -

China supports talks on waiving intellectual property protections on Covid-19 vaccines, amid a global push to widen access to jabs.

'China supports the World Trade Organization's proposal on intellectual property exemptions, for anti-epidemic materials such as Covid-19 vaccines, to enter the text consultation stage," Chinese commerce ministry spokesman Gao Feng says

The US has backed the proposal, but some European leaders have expressed scepticism over whether a waiver will improve accessibility.

- UK 'anxious' over spread of Indian Covid variant - 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says his government is worried about the transmission of an Indian Covid variant.

"It is a variant of concern, we are anxious about it," Johnson says, as new official figures from Public Health England are expected to show a rise in cases of the strain.

Despite the note of caution, Johnson adds that he doesn't expect the government will have to change its plans to lift Britain's coronavirus measures on June 21.

- Covid vaccination for young US teens -

The campaign to immunise America's 17 million adolescents aged 12-to-15 kicks off in full force, a key part of President Joe Biden's strategy to push the country close to herd immunity.

At the same time the top US health agency announces it is lifting mask-wearing requirements for people fully vaccinated against Covid-19, a watershed moment in the pandemic.

- Thailand prison outbreaks fuel record virus surge - 

Thailand reports its biggest ever spike in coronavirus infections, with more than half coming from two Bangkok prisons where prominent democracy activists have been detained.

The Southeast Asian country reports more than 4,800 infections -- its highest single-day jump -- which includes over 2,800 cases found in two prisons in the capital.

- Champions League final moved due to virus - 

The Champions League final between Manchester City and Chelsea later this month has been moved from Istanbul to Porto in the hope of allowing English fans to attend, UEFA announces.

Earlier, European football's governing body announced up to 6,000 supporters from each club will be able to attend.

But a Portuguese government spokeswoman says Portugal is yet to decide on whether or not to allow fans from the UK to travel to the country.

- Safe Olympics 'impossible', Japan doctors warn - 

Holding the Tokyo Olympics safely as the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage would be "impossible", a union of Japanese hospital doctors warn.

"We strongly oppose holding the Tokyo Olympics at a time when people around the world are fighting the new coronavirus," the union says in a statement.

Meanwhile the US track and field team scraps plans for pre-Olympic training in Japan over concerns about safety during the pandemic, Japanese officials say.

- 3.3 million dead -

The pandemic has killed at least 3,333,603 people worldwide since the virus first emerged in late 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data. 

The US is the worst-affected country with 583,685 deaths, followed by Brazil with 428,034, India 258,317, Mexico 219,590 and Britain 127,640. 

 

With inputs from AFP.