Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan increased as 737 new infections were reported in the country on Friday.
As per data shared by the National Institute of Health (NIH), 22,451 coronavirus tests were conducted across the country during last 24 hours.
Ten deaths were reported from the disease in 24 hours and it is for the first time in four and half months that the country reported double digit deaths due to the infection.
The NIH reported that 389 people recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours while 189 patients were on critical care across the country. The current positivity ratio stands at 3.28%.
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As per the experts, the recent rise in COVID-19 cases in Pakistan was due to two sub-variants of the Omicron variant, namely BA.4 and BA.5 that have escape mutations that are giving them an edge.
"The sub-variants have also been infecting people who are already vaccinated or have already been infected with COVD-19, but no evidence is available to show if they are causing any severe disease among the vaccinated people," they said.
