Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 527,146 on Thursday after 2,363 new coronavirus cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
Overall, 238,470 cases were confirmed in Sindh, 151,603 in Punjab, 64,373 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 18,670 in Balochistan, 40,430 in Islamabad, 4,894 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 8,706 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 11,157 with 54 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 480,696 after another 2,179 virus recoveries were reported.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan on Wednesday said that the government will provide COVID-19 vaccine free of cost to the general public.
Talking to media, Dr Faisal said that negotiations with two pharmaceutical companies shortlisted by the Technical Committee for procurement of vaccine are underway.
He said Pakistan is also in touch with Chinese government for procuring anti-corona vaccine and the ambassador of the UK was also engaged in this regard.
The SAPM said the government machinery is functional in procuring vaccine and we will be able to vaccinate 1.1 million people and procure vaccine for 200 million populations till the first quarter of this year.
“The staff of Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) will be tasked in shifting and storing vaccines across the country,” the advisor said and maintained that frontline health workers will be vaccinated in first phase of this process.
It is pertinent to mention that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 94.9 million and death toll tops 2.050,000 million.
