Pakistan surpasses Germany amid sharp decline in new Covid-19 cases

In yet another grim milestone, Pakistan surpassed Germany in the number of coronavirus cases as 2,775 people tested positive for the virus in the country during the past 24 hours (Thursday), raising the overall number to 195,745.

Pakistan is now 12th most-affected country in the world behind Mexico which has a higher infection rate. Germany has slipped to 13th on the list with 193,785 cases.

However, the country is witnessing a sharp decline in new cases for the last five days for which so single factor can’t be attributed.

Most of the coronavirus cases have so far been reported in Sindh where the number reached 75,168, shows the figures released by National Command and Operation Centre on Friday morning.

Punjab is second with 71,987 cases followed by 24,303 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11,981 in Islamabad, 9,946 in Balochistan, 1,398 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 962 in Azad Kashmir.

Currently, 2,765 patients are in critical condition and being treated at different hospitals in the country. However, the number of active cases has decreased slightly to 107,615 against the previous level 107,760. It means more people recovered from the infection than those being tested positive during the past 24 hours.  

On the other hand, there was also visible fall in the number of deaths recorded Thursday as 59 people died to the virus against the 148 reported a day earlier. However, the death toll since the coronavirus outbreak in the country has increased to 3,962.

The region-wise details of these deaths are: Punjab 1,629, Sindh 1,178, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 879, Islamabad 119, Balochistan 109, Azad Kashmir 25 and Gilgit-Baltistan 23.

The abovementioned figures show that there were no coronavirus-related deaths in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan during the past 24 hours.

As far as testing is concerned, another 21,041 tests were conducted across the country on Thursday after which the overall number has increased to 1,193,017.