Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 1,282,860 on Wednesday after 350 new cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
Overall 474,573 cases were confirmed in Sindh, 442,638 in Punjab, 179,720 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 33,456 in Balochistan, 107,525 in Islamabad, 10,410 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 34,538 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
As per the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, 38,038 tests were conducted in last 24 hours while positivity ratio remained 0.92%.
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 28,677 with 9 fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 1,239,995 after another 1,015 virus recoveries were reported.
Meanwhile, a research says that an experimental chewing gum containing a protein that "traps" coronavirus particles could limit the amount of virus in saliva and help curb transmission when infected people are talking, breathing or coughing.
As per the researchers, the gum contains copies of the ACE2 protein found on cell surfaces, which the virus uses as a gateway to break into cells and infect them.
In test-tube experiments using saliva and swab samples from infected individuals, virus particles attached themselves to the ACE2 "receptors" in the chewing gum.
As a result, the viral load in the samples fell by more than 95%, the research team from the University of Pennsylvania reported in Molecular Therapy.
It is pertinent to mention that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 259.111 million and death toll tops 5,184,803.
