Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 1,516,150 on Wednesday after 758 new cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
Overall 570,688 cases were confirmed in Sindh, 503,128 in Punjab, 217,503 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 35,399 in Balochistan, 134,700 in Islamabad, 11,592 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 43,140 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
As per the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, 36,569 tests were conducted in last 24 hours while positivity ratio remained 2.07%.
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 30,287 with 6 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 1,467,868 after another 12,103 virus recoveries were reported.
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Meanwhile, an expert group convened by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it strongly supports urgent and broad access to booster doses, in a reversal of the UN agency's previous insistence that boosters weren't necessary and contributed to vaccine inequity.
In a statement, the WHO said its expert group concluded that immunisation with authorised COVID-19 vaccines provide high levels of protection against severe disease and death amid the global circulation of the hugely contagious Omicron variant.
It said vaccination, including the use of boosters, was especially important for people at risk of severe disease.
Last year, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for a moratorium on booster doses while dozens of countries embarked on administering the doses, saying rich countries should immediately donate those vaccines to poor countries instead.
It is pertinent to mention that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 450,008 million and death toll tops 6,036,400.
