Pakistan reports 73 coronavirus deaths, over 2,400 new cases 

Another 73 people died of the coronavirus during the past 24 hours (Monday, December 14), showed the latest data released by National Command and Operation Centre on Tuesday morning as the death toll in Pakistan climbed to 8,905.

It was again Punjab which witnessed most of these deaths with 57 people dying of the virus. It was followed by six each in Sindh and Islamabad, and four in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

With the addition of the latest deaths, the region-wise distribution now stands at: Punjab, 3,422, Sindh 3,164, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1,477, Islamabad 377, Azad Kashmir 191, Balochistan 175 and Gilgit-Baltistan 99.

On the other hand, the virus was found in 2,459 people during the same period after which the overall number of cases reported in the country increased to 443,246.

Since the outbreak of this coronavirus pandemic, the number of cases detected in Sindh is 196,962 followed by Punjab 128,138, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 52,787, Islamabad 35,045, Balochistan 17,771, Azad Kashmir 7,750 and Gilgit-Baltistan 4,793.

Meanwhile, there are 48,008 active cases in Pakistan with Punjab again leading the list: Punjab: 15,692, Sindh 8,464, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 4,709, Islamabad 4,771, Gilgit-Baltistan 401, Azad Kashmir 331 and Balochistan 183.

Out of these active cases, 3,057 patients are currently admitted in different hospitals across the country with 323 of them placed on ventilators due to their critical condition.

Meanwhile, a total of 386,333 coronavirus patients have so far fully recovered from the infection which means the number of closed cases reached 386,333 on Monday.

Global developments

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:

- US rolls out shots -

A nurse in New York becomes the first person in the United States to receive the Pfizer-BioNtech coronavirus vaccine.

- Canada too - 

Canada also begins a roll-out of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, inoculating a care worker and an octogenarian first.

- Dutch lockdown -

The Netherlands is to go into the strictest lockdown since the pandemic began, with schools and non-essential shops to shut for around five weeks over Christmas.

- London in top tier  -

London is to move into the highest level of coronavirus restrictions from 0001 GMT Wednesday, meaning theatres as well as pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues will have to close.

- Turkey New Year lockdown -

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announces a four-day lockdown over the New Year holidays.

- Czech Christmas curfew -

The Czech government reimposes an overnight curfew and closes restaurants and bars across the country for Christmas.

- Over 1.6 million dead -

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 1,612,297 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Monday.

The US is the worst-affected country with 299,191 deaths, followed by Brazil with 181,402, India with 143,355, Mexico with 113,953 and Italy, which went into fifth place at the weekend, with 64,520.

- Netanyahu self-isolates -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tests negative but goes into self-isolation after coming into contact with a coronavirus patient.

- German CDU leader contest -

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right CDU says it will choose its new leader at a congress next month that will be held online because of the pandemic.

- Helping youth -

The World Health Organization announces a $5 million-fund to create programmes to help young people deal with the disruptions caused by the pandemic.

- Santa 'immune' -

Santa is immune to Covid-19, and can travel the world and hand out gifts this coming Christmas, a World Health Organization official says.

With inputs from AFP.