Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 924,667 on Wednesday after 1,843 new coronavirus cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
Overall 319,447 cases were confirmed in Sindh, 340,557 in Punjab, 133,124 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 25,295 in Balochistan, 81,357 in Islamabad, 5,600 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 19,287 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
As per National Command and Operation (NCOC) data, 47,183 tests were conducted while positivity ratio remained 3.90%.
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 20,930 with 80 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 848,685 after another 4,047 virus recoveries were reported.
Meanwhile, Pakistan on Tuesday launched locally-produced single dose COVID-19 vaccine ‘PakVac’ amid the government's efforts to pace up the vaccination drive of the country.
The vaccine was launched during a ceremony, attended by Planning Minister Asad Umar, who also heads the NCOC, besides Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on National Health Services Dr Faisal Sultan and others.
‘PakVac’ has been developed by China's state-run pharmaceutical company CanSino Bio.
It was brought to Pakistan in a concentrated form, where it is packaged at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad. CanSino was the first Chinese vaccine which underwent clinical trials in Pakistan.
The company's interim efficacy results showed the vaccine had a 65.7% efficacy in preventing symptomatic coronavirus cases and a 90.98% success rate in stopping severe infections.
Moreover, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday approved the China-made vaccine, Sinovac, for emergency use against COVID-19.
It is pertinent to mention that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 170.426 million and death toll tops 3.548 million.
