Coronavirus kills 84 more; 2,142 fresh cases surface

ISLAMABAD: The novel coronavirus claimed 84 lives during the past 24 hours, raising the national death toll to 9,557, said the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday.
According to data issued by the NCOC, the country reported 2,142 coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, which surged the national tally to 462,814 with at least 37,905 active cases.
Pakistan has one of the highest recovery rates in the world as 89.74 percent of the patients have survived coronavirus. A total of 415,352 recoveries have been reported so far. A total of 4,415 patients recovered from the virus in a day and 2,419 patients are in critical condition.
A total of 35,621 tests were conducted across the country during the aforementioned period, while 6,406,281 samples have been tested so far.
Sindh recorded as many as 918 new cases of the coronavirus and 40 more fatalities during the last 24 hours, taking the provincial tally of infections to 207,407 and deaths to 3,419.
According to a statement issued from the CM House, a total of 11,643 samples were tested, out of which 918 turned out to be positive. A total of 807 patients recovered over the past 24 hours, taking the number of recoveries to 184,999 patients.
The statement said that 18,989 patients are under treatment at present, 18,159 of whom are in home isolation, 13 at isolation centres and 817 at different hospitals. He added the condition of 722 patients is stated to be critical while 85 of them have been put on ventilators.
Out of 918 fresh cases, 635 were detected from Karachi, including 203 from District South, 270 District East, 92 Central District, 19 Korangi, 22 West and 29 Malir.
Hyderabad reported 80 new infections, Shaheed Benazirabad 52 infections, Kamber 20, Khairpur 10, Ghotki and Umerkot nine each, Badin and Larkana seven each, Sujawal and Thatta six each, Jacobabad, Jamshoro, Matiari and Tando Allahyar two each, and Sanghar and Sukkur one each.
Meanwhile, the NCOC has been informed that the federal government is liaising with manufacturers of leading coronavirus vaccines including China.
A statement issued on Wednesday said the government is regularly reviewing developments including data from phase three of the Covid-19 vaccine trials. The final decision about the availability of the vaccine for Pakistan would be determined through these steps.
Pakistan has already signed up for the United Nation’s COVAX Facility, a global initiative aimed at equitable access to safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines worldwide.
There are also multiple local and China-made vaccine trials being conducted across the country. The human trials of a vaccine being developed by Chinese Company CanSino Biologics Inc started on September 22 and has over 13,000 volunteers across Pakistan.
In November, Federal Minister for Planning and Development and the NCOC chief Asad Umar said that the federal cabinet has approved procurement of the vaccines, which are expected to arrive sometime between January and March next year.
Separately, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Dr Faisal Sultan has said that corona vaccine would be available in Pakistan by March next.
In an interview with a private television channel, he said the government is in touch with three companies for purchasing the coronavirus vaccine. The special assistant said that priority would be given in vaccination to health workers and people of above sixty-five years age. – TLTP