ISLAMABAD: Active coronavirus cases in Pakistan have shot up from 39,881 to 44,717 in the last 24 hours, the highest since October 6, according to official figures released Wednesday morning, as the Omicron variant pushes infections across the country.
The country registered a positivity ratio at 9.48% as 5,472 new cases were detected after 57,669 tests were conducted, the National Command and Operation Centre, the forum leading Pakistan’s COVID response, said.
Eight new deaths pushed the death toll to 29,037, while new infections have taken the caseload to 1.34 million, the NCOC’s data showed. Coronavirus infections in Pakistan are doubling every week on average and could strain the country’s healthcare system in two weeks’ time, Dr Rana Muhammad Safdar, the director-general of health, had warned.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said it has emerged that coronavirus cases of the new variant Omicron are “the highest in Karachi, especially in school going children”.
