Coronavirus in Pakistan: Death toll hits 11,204

Pakistan has recorded 47 more deaths due to the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours taking the national death tally to 11,204.

As many as 1745 more people got infected with the virus bringing the national toll of confirmed cases to 528,891. 2,075 more people recovered in a single day, so far 482,771 patients have defeated coronavirus.

A total of 35,839 tests were conducted across the country during this period. Overall 482,771 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far while 7,561,977 samples have been tested thus far.

Province Wise Cases:

SINDH: 239,186

KPK: 64,651

PUNJAB: 152,158

ISLAMABAD: 40,548

BALOCHISTAN: 18,696

AJK: 8,753

GB: 4,899

On Thursday, Pakistan said that it will receive half-a-million free doses of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine by January 31.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi made the announcement at a news conference, saying that his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, shared the “good news” in a phone call between the two officials.

“He told me, ‘Send your aircraft and immediately airlift this drug.’ So, this is a welcome news for us. And we will, God willing, succeed in saving many lives,” Qureshi said.

He stressed that the Chinese vaccine is being gifted to Islamabad as a “goodwill gesture” from Beijing “in view of the all-weather strategic relationship” between the two countries.

Pakistan’s drug regulator approved the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use on Monday. China approved the drug earlier this month, which is also in use in several countries, including Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.