Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 937,434 on Thursday after 1,303 new coronavirus cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
Overall 325,738 cases were confirmed in Sindh, 343,252 in Punjab, 135,162 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 26,052 in Balochistan, 81,933 in Islamabad, 5,674 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 19,623 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
As per National Command and Operation (NCOC) data, 41,824 tests were conducted while positivity ratio remained 3.1%.
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 21,529 with 76 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 871,669 after another 1,978 virus recoveries were reported.
Meanwhile, the NCOC has declared COVID-19 vaccination obligatory for public and private sector employees, saying that all government servants will have to be vaccinated by the end of this month.
The decision was taken in a meeting of NCOC in Islamabad on Wednesday with Planning Minister Asad Umar in the chair.
The forum decided that countrywide mass vaccination campaign will be run under three pronged strategy and all citizens will be immunized on voluntary basis, while certain incentives will be introduced for various sectors to encourage vaccination.
It was decided that all vaccination centres will remain open from 8am to 10pm daily from next Friday, except on Sunday.
Moreover, From June 11 onwards, citizens of 18 years plus will be able to avail the walk-in facility in vaccination centres.
The NCOC is in the process of developing IT based solutions for verification of vaccination certificates which shall be completed by the end of this month.
It is pertinent to mention that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 173.674 million and death toll tops 3.744 million.
