Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 597,497 on Thursday after 2,258 new coronavirus cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
Overall 260,406 cases were confirmed in Sindh, 180,944 in Punjab, 74,722 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19,157 in Balochistan, 46,579 in Islamabad 4,959 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 10,730 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 13,377 with 53 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 566,492 after another 1,276 virus recoveries were reported.
Meanwhile, following the government’s announcement for spring holidays in academic institutions in the selected cities due to recent upsurge in Covid-19 cases, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has said that all universities shall continue to operate as per guidelines issued earlier except for the universities and higher education institutions (HEIs) in the cities including Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Peshawar, Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
All universities and HEIs in the above-mentioned cities shall remain closed for physical attendance during March 15-28, 2021.
However, academic activities will continue online during this period. Moreover, on-going and pre-scheduled exams can be conducted as planned with complete observance of Covid-19 health and safety protocols.
It is pertinent to mention that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 117.332,000 million and death toll tops 2.605,000 million.
