With virus claiming 105 lives, Pakistan surpasses grim milestone of 9,000 COVID-19 deaths

• 919 people have died in the first half of December, the number was 337 in November and 137 in October

• With 2,731 new infections, cumulative tally climbs to 445,977
• 48,369 active coronavirus cases across the country

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported 105 new deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, the highest daily figure since June, data issued by the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) showed on Wednesday.

Out of the 105 patients who died of coronavirus, 70 were on ventilators.

Tuesday's figures raised the total number of people who have died across the country after testing positive for the novel coronavirus since the start of the pandemic to 9,010 with a mortality rate of 2.27%.

Since the beginning of December, at least 919 people have died of coronavirus with a daily average of 61.22 deaths. Comparatively, 337 lives were lost due to COVID019 in the first 15 days of November at an average of 22.4 deaths per day while October saw 137 deaths in the first half with a daily average of 9.133 deaths.

Sindh reported the highest number of deaths as 58 people died of coronavirus in 24 hours, followed by 30 deaths in Punjab, 12 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two each in Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and one in Balochistan.

Read more: Over 2,500 coronavirus deaths reported in Karachi so far

Cases

The government data showed 2,731 new confirmed cases were reported on Tuesday, raising the cumulative infection tally to 445,977. The national case positivity rate has climbed to 7.18%

The NCOC data showed the country recorded 45,495 COVID-19 infections since December 1 at an average of 3,033 cases per day. The number has doubled as the first half of November saw 25,062 infections with an average of 1,670 cases per day while the first 15 days of October saw only 9,005 infections at a daily average of 600.

There are 48,369 active coronavirus cases across the country - out of which 2,510 are critical with 316 patients on ventilators.

The highest ventilator occupancy has been observed in Multan (48%) and Islamabad (46%) while Peshawar reported the most number of oxygen beds occupied at 64%, followed by Rawalpindi at 42% and Multan at 41%.

Recoveries

According to the NCOC, Pakistan has one of the highest recovery rates in the world with over 87% of the patients surviving the virus. The country reported 2,265 new recoveries in the past 24 hours, bringing the national tally of recovered patients to 388,598.

So far in December, a total of 45,312 people have survived the virus.

Read our daily COVID-19 report 

Bids to contain the virus

With the rising spread of the virus, the federal government on December 9 warned it would shut down more sectors if the public continued to violate coronavirus SOPs.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development and NCOC chief Asad Umar said there was a rapid increase in infections during the second wave as the public was less serious than it was during the first wave.

He warned that if the virus is not contained, the government may decide to close down more sectors and impose stricter restrictions in two weeks' time.

Current restrictions

The federal government has already made face masks mandatory in public spaces, limited large public gatherings to 300, banned indoor weddings, closed shrines, cinemas, and theatres, and instructed public and private offices to adopt a work-from-home policy and 50% occupancy.

The federal government has also announced that educational institutes will remain closed from November 26 to January 10. The students will study at home or get weekly homework till December 24 and winter vacations will start December 25. The schools will reopen on January 11 - which is subject to coronavirus situation then. All examinations have been postponed except admission and recruitment tests.

Furthermore, all provinces have banned indoor dining and limited timings for markets, shops, and shopping malls. Many areas in the country have been placed under smart lockdowns.

Read more: Which country stands where in the coronavirus vaccination race?

Public gatherings 

With an intensely political environment, the country has been seeing large public gatherings aimed to remove the incumbent government. The Opposition recently held power-shows in Peshawar, Multan, and Lahore with thousands of people attending the jalsa but without face masks and social distancing.