The national tally of total active Covid-19 cases in Pakistan on Saturday reached 33,474 as 2,007 more people tested positive for the deadly virus and 1,617 people recovered.
Forty patients, 33 of whom were under treatment in hospitals and seven in their respective homes or quarantines, died, according to the latest update issued by the National command and Operation Centre (NCOC). Most of the deaths occurred in Punjab, followed by Sindh. Out of total 40 deaths, 16 patients died on ventilators.
No Covid-affected person was on ventilator in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan (GB) while 305 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in Pakistan. The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major areas including Multan 44 percent, ICT 40 percent, Bahawalpur 45 percent and Lahore 33 percent. The maximum oxygen beds were occupied in four major areas of Peshawar 54 percent, Multan 36 percent, Karachi 35 percent and ICT 29 percent.
Some 40,898 tests were conducted across the country on Friday, including 12,904 in Sindh, 15,438 in Punjab, 6,246 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 4,980 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 613 in Balochistan, 374 in GB, and 343 in AJK. Around 455,445 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan making it a significant count with over 86 percent recovery ratio of the affected patients.
Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 499,517 cases were detected that also included the perished, recovered and under-treatment Covid-19 patients so far, including AJK 8,451, Balochistan 18,351, GB 4,879, ICT 38,970, KP 60,751, Punjab 144,111 and Sindh 224,004. About 10,598 deaths were recorded in country since the eruption of the contagion. Around 3,679 perished in Sindh among Nine of them died on Friday. Five of them died in hospital and four out of the hospital.
At least 4,242 in Punjab had died with 21 deaths in past 24 hours. 18 of them perished in the hospital and Three out of the hospital on Friday. 1,718 in KP where Eight of them died in hospital on Friday, 436 in ICT, 187 in Balochistan where one of them died in hospital on Friday, 101 in GB and 235 in AJK where one of them succumbed to the deadly virus in hospital on Friday. A total of 7,043,604 corona tests have been conducted so far, while 631 hospitals are equipped with COVID facilities. Some 2,779 corona patients were admitted in hospitals across the country.
The Covid-19 cases continued to surge in the federal capital as 128 new cases were reported from the city, the NCOC said on Saturday. According to an official of NCOC, as many as 155 cases were reported on Friday while 156 cases were reported on Thursday. He said so far 38,970 cases were reported from the federal capital while 436 deaths were reported from Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). He added 36,546 patients had been recovered completely.
Meanwhile, on the direction of Ministry of National Health Services, the district administration of Islamabad had continued smart lockdown in different streets of the capital to reduce transmission of the infection in the selected streets and other sectors. They also started taking actions on violation of SOPs while visiting marriage halls, markets and petrol pumps by its inspection teams.