The national tally of total active Covid-19 cases was recorded at 90,553 as 4,696 more people tested positive for the deadly virus on Saturday.
One hundred and forty-six patients died on Saturday, 132 of whom were under treatment in hospitals and 14 in their respective quarantines or homes, according to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).
During the past 24 hours, most of the deaths occurred in Punjab, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Out of the total 146 deaths, 61 were under treatment on ventilators.
The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major areas including Lahore 69 percent, Multan 76 percent, Bahawalpur 67 percent and Mardan 80 percent.
The maximum Oxygen beds (alternate oxygen providing facility other than ventilator administered as per medical requirement of COVID patient) was also occupied in four major areas of Swabi 63 percent, Multan 76 percent, Peshawar 72 percent and Swat 61 percent. Around 671 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country while no Covid-affected person was on ventilator in Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and Balochistan.
Some 48,740 tests were conducted across the country on Friday, including 14,783 in Sindh, 18,962 in Punjab, 8,102 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 4,948 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 529 in Balochistan, 405 in GB, and 1,011 in AJK.
Since the pandemic outbreak, a total of 825,519 cases were detected that also included the perished, recovered and under treatment Covid-19 patients so far, including AJK 17,187, Balochistan 22,369, GB 5,310, ICT 75,498, KP 118,413, Punjab 303,182 and Sindh 283,560.
About 17,957 deaths were recorded in country since the eruption of the contagion. Around 717,009 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan, making it a significant count with over 90 percent recovery ratio of the affected patients.
A total of 11,836,866 tests have been conducted so far, while 631 hospitals are equipped with Covid facilities. Some 6,639 corona patients were admitted in hospitals across the country.
The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination has said that as a result of proactive effort, one sample of the SARS-COV-2, B.1.351 (South African) and one sample of SARS-COV-2, P1 (Brazil) variants have been detected at the National Institute of Health (NIH) through genome sequencing.
Authorities are actively engaged in contact tracing of these positive cases, a spokesman of the ministry said. He added that the ministry and the NCOC are regularly monitoring Covid-19 variants in the country.
Meanwhile, the NCOC on Saturday decided to ban all sort of processions on the occasion of Yaum-e-Ali (AS), while holding of Majalis has been permitted under strict Covid SOPs which are already in place for the holy month of Ramazan. The decision was made while keeping in view the risk factors due to ongoing surge in Covid cases across country, particularly in major urban centers.
An important session on conduct of Yaum-e-Ali (AS) was held here at the NCOC. The session was chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar and co-chaired by National Coordinator Lieutenant General Hamood Uz Zaman Khan.
Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed, Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony Noor ul Haq Qadri and SAPM on Health Dr Faisal Sultan also participated in the session. The provincial secretaries and representatives of law enforcement agencies also attended the session through video link. The forum emphasised the need to engage religious scholars and community leaders at provincial and district levels for implementation of these decisions.
