ISLAMABAD: The National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Friday said that the average Covid-19 positivity rate has risen by 40 percent during the last four days.
Expressing concern at the alarming increase in the positivity rate, the NCOC was also perturbed over the increasing number of hospital admissions and deaths from the deadly virus.
During a morning session held by the NCOC, health officials presented Pakistan’s Covid related data, where the forum noted that the virus positivity ratio has been on the increase for the fifth consecutive day.
The NCOC observed that the average national positivity rate is 40 percent higher in the last four days with a higher number of deaths as well. It was also noted that Muzaffarabad, Hyderabad, Karachi and Gilgit have a higher positivity ratio among other areas across the country.
Health officials revealed that hospital admissions are on the increase, particularly in Punjab, with a higher number of critical patients currently in admission.
Punjab Chief Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik further updated the forum on Covid-related figures in Punjab. According to the data, the positivity ratio in the province increased to 1.33 percent in comparison to the previous 0.92 percent, Malik revealed. The death ratio in Punjab stood at six compared to 1.6 percent on September 1st, the senior official added.
Pakistan’s current case fatality rate stands at 2.06 percent against the global percentage of 2.72 percent. Among the total number of national cases, males constitute 71 percent of the total death, of which 76 percent are over the age of 50, according to the data shared at the NCOC forum.
Earlier on Wednesday, NCOC warned against another lockdown if SOPs continued to be violated. The body categorically stated that businesses will have to face another lockdown and strict action will be taken against those violating SOPs.
Meanwhile on Friday, the country reported 13 more deaths due to coronavirus-related complications during the last 24 hours, taking the death toll from the disease to 6,715, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).
According to the NCOC, 736 fresh infections emerged during this period, lifting the national tally of cases to 326,216. There are a total of 9,855 active cases of the coronavirus as 309,646 patients have recovered from the disease.
So far, Sindh has reported 142,917 cases, followed by Punjab that reported 102,253 cases while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 38,886, Balochistan 15,767, Islamabad 18,578, Gilgit-Baltistan 4,127 and Azad Jammu and Kashmir has reported 3,688 cases.As many as 845 patients are under treatment in different hospitals across the country and 89 of them are on ventilators. – TLTP