COVID-19 claims 148 more lives with 5,499 fresh cases

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan continues to battle the third wave of the deadly coronavirus, with 148 more people losing their lives to the virus in the last 24 hours, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Wednesday.
According to the NCOC, at least 47,301 coronavirus tests were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours, out of which 5,499 came back positive, showing the coronavirus positivity rate at 11.62 percent.
According to the official figures, the death toll from COVID-19 in the country has risen to 16,600 and the total number of cases has reached 772,381, while the number of active cases is 83,162.
In addition to this, 5,488 patients have recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours across the country, bringing the total number of recoveries to 672,619.
According to the official portal, the total number of coronavirus patients in Sindh has reached 27,4196 while 4,559 people have died so far. In Punjab, the total number of Covid-19 patients is 276,535 and 7,664 people have died so far due to the virus. Punjab recorded over 100 deaths for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, while the total number of patients in Balochistan is 21,127 and the death toll has reached 225.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded a total of 108,462 virus patients, with 2,953 deaths, while in Azad Kashmir 15,873 people have been infected with the virus and 446 people have died.
According to the NCOC,the highest number of ventilators occupied in the country was found to be in Mardan with 91 percent occupancy, followed by Gujranwala with 88 percent occupancy, Multan 85 percent and Lahore at 81 percent.
The NCOC further reported that the highest number of oxygen bed occupancy in the country was in Gujranwala at 85 percent followed by Peshawar at 71 percent, Nowshera at 68 percent and Swat at 66 percent. – TLTP