COVID-19 claims 10 more lives, 385 fresh cases emerge

ISLAMABAD: As many as 385 new cases of the coronavirus surfaced across the country over the past 24 hours, taking the nationally tally of infections to 319,317, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday.
According to the NCOC, some 26,951 samples were tested, out of which 385 turned out to be positive. Ten coronavirus patients died during the previous 24 hours. The total number of people dying of complications caused by the highly contagious disease has reached 6,580.
Around 304,185 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan with over 95 percent recovery ratio of the affected patients. There are 8,552 active cases of Covid-19 in the country. Of the total patients, 804 are admitted in different hospitals across the country. A total of 38,847,96 tests have been conducted so far.
Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 319,317 cases have been detected so far, including 140,294 in Sindh, 100,764 in Punjab, 38,348 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 15,525 in Balochistan, 17,331 in Islamabad, 3937 in Gilgit Baltistan, and 3118 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, the tally of active cases of Covid-19 in Balochistan has dropped below 200 cases, a spokesperson of Balochistan Health Department said on Monday. In a statement, the provincial health department said that 49 patients had recovered to health in the last 24 hours and active cases of novel coronavirus in the province have dropped to 177.
Health officials conducted 661 diagnostic tests in 24 hours and detected five positive cases, according to the health department. Total count of coronavirus positive cases has reached 15,525 with five new infections in Balochistan. The number of recuperated patients across the province has been 15,202, the health department said.
Overall 146 deaths were reported due to COVID-19 in Balochistan, as no fatality was reported in the last 24 hours, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, after a significant decrease in the coronavirus cases in Punjab, the number has again started to creep gradually on Monday.
A report compiled by the Punjab Primary and Secondary Health Department shows that as many as 670 cases of coronavirus were reported in the first 11 days of October.
Earlier in the months of August and September, 25 cases were being reported on a daily basis in the province but now the number has jumped to 60/per day in the first 11 days of the month of October.
The report highlights that 16 critical patients of coronavirus are currently under treatment at the government hospitals of the province.
Chairman Corona Experts Advisory Group Punjab, Professor Mehmood Shaukat said the number of cases is increasing due to non-compliance with the health-related guidelines designed by the provincial government to control over the spread of the pandemic. Weather change can result in the return of coronavirus, he feared. – TLTP