Deaths from coronavirus in Pakistan cross 11,000 mark

Pakistan has recorded 58 more deaths due to the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours bringing the national death tally to 11, 055.

National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) the COVID-19 has claimed 58 more lives and 1,800 fresh infections were reported.

In a single day, as many as 1,243 patients have recovered from the virus in a day and 2,341 patients are still in critical condition.

The total count of active cases is 35,485 and the positivity rate stands at 4.92 per cent.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), with fresh inclusion of the infections in the country the national tally of cases now currently stands at 523,011.

A total of 36,513 tests were conducted across the country during this period. Overall 476,471 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far while 7,442,084 samples have been tested so far.

Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) this week approved Chinese state-owned firm Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use, the second shot to be given approval for use in the country.

A spokesperson for the regulatory body said in a statement that “In a meeting conducted by the Registration Board of DRAP today January 18, 2021, another vaccine manufactured by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) has also been given EUA (emergency use authorization).”

Last month, the Chinese health regulators had given conditional approval to the Sinopharm vaccine, the first to be approved for general use in China.