COVID-19 positivity rate reaches 2.58pc, highest in 2 months

ISLAMABAD: The coronavirus positivity rate in Pakistan has again increased to 2.58 percent, making it the highest positivity rate in over two months, according to the data of the last 24 hours shared by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Thursday.
According to the NCOC, out of 28,534 tests conducted on Wednesday, 736 turned out to be positive. So far, Pakistan has a total of 325,480 coronavirus cases.
The country reported 10 more coronavirus-related fatalities during the past 24 hours, taking the death toll from the disease to 6,702. There are a total of 9,642 active cases of the coronavirus as 309,136 patients have recovered from the disease.
So far, Sindh has reported 142,641 cases, followed by Punjab that reported 102,107 cases while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 38,810, Balochistan 15,738, Islamabad 18,438, Gilgit Baltistan 4,107 and Azad Jammu and Kashmir has reported 3,630 cases.
As many as 856 patients are under treatment in hospitals across the country and 91 of them are on ventilators.
The government officials have expressed concern about the rising positivity ratio in the country, even though it is still below the 5 percent threshold set by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Meanwhile, academic activities at Fazaia Medical College Air University in Islamabad were suspended for over a week after it reported eight cases of coronavirus. According to a notification issued by the varsity’s administration, the university will remain closed from October 22 to November 1.
“Students in their final year of MBBS will stay home to avoid interacting with others to control the spread of the virus,” the notification read. The administration further instructed students to stay at home, strictly follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) and avoid roaming in public.
Routine academic activities will resume on November 2, and students will continue their training from when they stopped on October 21, the notification stated.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson to the Primary and Secondary Healthcare department confirmed on Thursday that 171 new cases of coronavirus reported in Punjab during the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 102,107. Four more deaths were reported while the total count reached 2,323, the spokesperson added.
The province has conducted 1,493,502 screening tests so far, whereas 9,289 patients recovered from the virus. – TLTP