Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 497,510 on Friday after 2,482 new coronavirus cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
Overall, 222,999 cases were confirmed in Sindh, 143,511 in Punjab, 60,536 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 18,314 in Balochistan, 38,842 in Islamabad, 4,878 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 8,430 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 10,558 with 48 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 453,828 after another 3,313 virus recoveries were reported.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is likely to complete the clinical trial of a Covid-19 vaccine in the current week.
While critics said the country should have pre-booked the vaccine, some experts are of the opinion that by the end of the first quarter of the year, several options will be available for the procurement of the vaccine.
In August 2020, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) gave a nod to hold the clinical trial of Covid-19 vaccine prepared by the Chinese CanSino company in the country.
The trial started in September. In December, it was decided to increase the sample size from 10,000 to 18,000.
It is pertinent to mention that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 85.9 million and death toll tops 1.8 million.
