The nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients soared to 11,736 on Friday, with 4,851 cases reported in Punjab, 3,945 in Sindh, 1,708 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 656 in Balochistan, 307 in Gilgit Baltistan, 214 in Islamabad and 55 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The virus has claimed at least 248 lives while some 2,527 coronavirus patients have recovered so far.
The Gilgit-Baltistan government Friday said that eight more people have contracted the novel coronavirus in the region. This brings the total number to 307. At least 213 patients have recovered so far, it added.
The Balochistan health department, in its daily situational report, confirmed two more casualties due to coronavirus to bring the death toll to 10. With 49 new cases, total number of Covid-19 patients has also risen to 656.
Another medical professional succumbed to deadly coronavirus in the country when a senior dispenser of a virus control room in Civil Hospital, Quetta passed away on Friday.
Another 84 people have contracted coronavirus to raise total number of such cases to 4,851 across Punjab, the provincial health department confirmed on Friday. This includes 768 pilgrims, 1,915 Tableeghi Jamaat members, 86 inmates and 2,082 citizens.
On the international front, New York reported its lowest number of daily Covid-19 deaths in weeks on Friday. The state reported 422 deaths as of Thursday. That’s the fewest since March 31, when it recorded 391 deaths. More than 16,000 people have died in the state from the outbreak. “Again, this is at an unimaginable level, and it’s dropping somewhat. But it’s still devastating news,” Gov Andrew Cuomo said at his daily briefing. “The total number of people hospitalised statewide continues to drop slowly, hitting 14,258, though the number of new patients coming into hospitals is basically flat at around 1,300,” Cuomo said.
The death toll in France from the coronavirus has risen by 389 to 22,245, the country’s top health official Jerome Salomon said. Reuters quoted Salomon as saying that the number of coronavirus cases in hospital fell to 28,658 from 29,219.
Tests in the wider Moscow region to see if people are carrying coronavirus antibodies suggest that as many as one in 10 residents may have been infected, Reuters reported a government project as saying on Friday. The results, disclosed to Reuters by Moscow’s International Medical Cluster, suggest that the novel coronavirus has spread more widely than the official tallies of confirmed infections.
Moscow and the Moscow region around it has reported 44,786 confirmed cases of the virus, suggesting 0.2 per cent of the area’s population of more than 20 million has been infected. The Moscow branch of the Israeli Haddassa Medical clinic offers tests for the presence of antibodies to people with no flu-like symptoms.
“Last week, when the testing was launched, about 3pc of people had (coronavirus) antibodies. This week, the figure rose to about 9-10pc. That means that gradual immunisation is underway,” it said.
Deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy climbed by 420, the smallest daily tally since March 19, the Civil Protection Agency said, but the number of new infections rose to 3,021 from 2,646 on Thursday. The total number of fatalities since the outbreak came to light on Feb 21 now stands at 25,969, the agency said, the second highest in the world after that of the United States. Reuters reported that the number of confirmed cases is 192,994, the third highest global tally behind those of the United States and Spain.
