Pakistan logs over 4,000 COVID-19 cases for second straight day

• Pakistan registers more than 4,000 COVID-19 cases for second straight day, NCOC stats show.
• The country’s positivity rate stands at 7.8%.
• Nine more patients succumb to virus in last 24 hours. 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan logged more than 4,000 COVID-19 cases for the second straight day, as the Omicron variant of the virus continues to push infection rates across the country amid the fifth wave of the pandemic, data from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed Sunday morning.

As per the latest statistics of the NCOC, a total of 51,236 tests were conducted in the country during the last 24 hours, of which 4,027 came back positive. The country’s positivity rate now stands at 7.8%.

Meanwhile, nine more patients succumbed to the virus during the same period and the condition of 752 patients was stated to be critical.

A day earlier, Pakistan had reported 4,286 daily COVID-19 cases — the highest number of cases since August 25, 2021.

The positivity ratio also shot up to 8.16%, the highest since August 11, when 52,522 tests were conducted across the country, according to the NCOC data.

'Karachi expected to report 50% positivity ratio'

Meanwhile, federal health officials had told Geo News that they expected the situation in Karachi to change in the coming week as the positivity ratio might hit 50%, leading to an increase in hospitalisations.

The officials had also said that cases were expected to shoot up to 6,000.