Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 528,891 on Friday after 1,745 new coronavirus cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
Overall, 239,186 cases were confirmed in Sindh, 152,158 in Punjab, 64,651 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 18,696 in Balochistan, 40,548 in Islamabad, 4,899 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 8,753 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 11,204 with 47 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 482,771 after another 2,075 virus recoveries were reported.
Meanwhile, two more companies have contacted the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for registration and phase-III clinical trial of their Covid-19 vaccines.
According to an official of Ministry of National Health Services (NHS), Russia’s state-owned Sputnik-V company has filed an application seeking permission for emergency use of its vaccine in Pakistan.
The NHS official added that Chinese firm Anhui Zheifi Longcom Biopharmaceuticals Company Limited has applied for phase-III clinical trial of its vaccine in Pakistan.
The vaccine has been jointly developed by the company and the Institute of Microbiology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences,” the official said.
It is pertinent to mention that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 95.6 million and death toll tops 2.066,000 million.
