Pakistan logs over 5,000 COVID-19 cases 1st time in 3 months

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistan logged more than 5,000 coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, the highest single-day rise since April, according to official statistics on Sunday.

With 5,026 fresh infections, the country's overall count reached 1,034,837.

Another 62 people lost their lives due to the virus, bringing the nationwide death toll to 23,422. The total number of active cases in the country stood at 69,756, with 941,659 recoveries.

The fourth wave of the pandemic has once again battered the country's fragile health system, with hospitals running out of beds and ventilators due to the rising number of patients, mainly in the southern Sindh province.

An eight-day long partial lockdown is already in place until Aug. 8 in the province -- the epicenter of the fourth wave driven by the highly contagious Delta variant.

The restrictions include the closure of schools, markets, restaurants, and government offices, along with bans on inter-city transport and "unnecessary" movement of citizens after 6 p.m local time.

The focus of the fresh restrictions will be Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and financial hub, where a majority of cases have been reported over the past two weeks.

According to Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, the positivity rate in Karachi has crossed 25%.

He criticized the federal government for opposing the lockdown in the province, which aims to stem the swelling cases.

The federal government, for its part, contends that the strict restrictions will affect the poor class.

The situation, though, has deteriorated in recent weeks, despite an expedited nationwide vaccination drive.

Over 28 million vaccine doses have been administered in Pakistan to date, and those at the age of 18 or over are eligible for vaccination.

However, only 6 million people have been fully vaccinated in the country of over 200 million.