Pakistan reports less than 2,000 daily COVID-19 cases for first time in two months

• Pakistan reports 1,897 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, for the first time since July 24.
• As many as 81 people lost their lives to the virus in last 24 hours, NCOC data shows.
• The positivity ratio of the country in a single day stands at 4.10%.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday reported 1,897 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the lowest number of single day infections in the last two months.

The country last reported a similar daily case count at 1,841 cases on July 24.

Pakistan’s COVID-19 positivity rate also dropped to the lowest figure, 4.10%, since July 11 as the virus cases continue to decline in the country.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Pakistan’s total number of cases after the latest additions climbed to 1,227,905 while 81 deaths in the last 24 hours took the death toll to 27,327 in the country. The most deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Sindh.

The NCOC said Pakistan conducted 46,231 tests of the infection in the last 24 hours. At least 2,618 people, meanwhile, recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours, taking the tally of recoveries to 1,137,656.

The number of active cases stands at 62,922. The active cases have fallen consistently over the last week. Among the active cases, 4,846 patients are under critical care.

A day earlier, Pakistan recorded another 40 fatalities from COVID-19, making it the first time in more than a month that the country had recorded less than 50 deaths from the virus in a single day as the country last reported 46 deaths on August 4.

According to a province-wise breakdown, the total active COVID-19 cases stand at 12,306 in Sindh, 18,198 in Punjab, 9,011 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 4,408 in Islamabad Capital Territory, 1,268 in Balochistan, 356 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 684 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

COVID-19 infections are decreasing in Pakistan, with 2,642 new infections reported on average each day. That’s 45% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on June 17.

Pakistan has administered at least 73,831,778 doses of COVID vaccines so far. Assuming every person needs 2 doses, that’s enough to have vaccinated about 17% of the country’s population.

During the last week reported, Pakistan averaged about 794,361 doses administered each day. At that rate, it will take a further 55 days to administer enough doses for another 10% of the population.