Coronavirus in Pakistan: Positivity ratio continues to decline

• Country logs 3,498 new infections in a single day, placing COVID-19 positivity at 6.02%.
• COVID-19 claims 39 more lives overnight.
• 5,761 coronavirus patients recover in last 24 hours.

ISLAMABAD: As the National Command and Operation's (NCOC) announcement regarding the COVID-19 restrictions draws near, Pakistan reported a minor decline in the coronavirus positivity ratio during the last 24 hours, the official data showed Friday morning.

As per the latest NCOC data, 3,498 new infections were detected during the testing of 58,077 samples conducted overnight, which placed the country's positivity ratio at 6.02% and the number of total cases past 1.477 million.

Read more: What are the COVID-19 restrictions?

Meanwhile, COVID-19 claimed 39 more lives during the last 24 hours after which the nationwide death tally rose to 29,687.

With 5,761 coronavirus patients' recoveries in a day, Pakistan's active case count further dropped to 82,368.

Despite an irregular graph of the deaths and fresh cases, the number of COVID-19 recuperation has witnessed a steady rise, which took the total recoveries count to 1,365,518.

The NCOC had on January 27 extended the COVID-19 restrictions in cities with high positivity ratio till February 15 with an announcement that the next review will be done on February 10, as the Omicron-driven fifth wave reached new heights across the country last month.

The forum had announced stricter restrictions for the cities with high disease prevalence.

Following are the cities where the infection rate is still above the 10% mark, according to the NCOC data.

• Mirpur — 10.38%
• Muzaffarabad — 19.74%
• Gilgit — 23.17%
• Skardu — 12.73%
• Abotabad — 15.21%
• Mardan — 13.89%
• Hyderabad — 18.85%