Pakistan coronavirus deaths hit five-month high of 89 in 24 hours

ISLAMABAD: A government portal reported on Tuesday that 89 Pakistanis had died of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, the highest number of deaths in five months.
On Monday, data from the National Command and Control Center, which oversees coronavirus mitigation efforts, showed that for the first time in five months, Pakistan’s positivity rate for the novel coronavirus had climbed to 9.7 percent, with the virus detected in 3,795 samples out of a total of 39,076 tests conducted throughout the country.
On Tuesday, government data showed the national positivity rate was 8.58 percent, with 2,885 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours and 89 deaths. The total number of cases reported so far in Pakistan is 423,179.
“Highest positivity ratio observed in Karachi 21.80%, followed by Mirpur 18.31% and Muzaffarabad 16.00%,” the NCOC said. “2,486 COVID patients are in critical condition across Pakistan and the number of critical patients is rising fast.”
After a peak of over 6,800 daily infections in Pakistan in June, the number fell to a low of 213 in August, and remained below 700 for most of the last three months. But infections have picked up steadily this past month and officials have said the second wave of the disease has arrived.
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government has recently restricted indoor dining at restaurants, made wearing face masks mandatory in public spaces, banned public rallies, limited large public gatherings to 300 people, banned indoor weddings, closed shrines, cinemas, and theaters, and instructed public and private offices to adopt a work-from-home policy.
The federal government has also closed all educational institutes from November 26 to January 10 and postponed all examinations except admissions and recruitment tests.

Pakistan coronavirus deaths hit five-month high of 89 in 24 hours