The nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients soared to 68,307 on Saturday, with 24,104 cases reported in Punjab, 27,360 in Sindh, 9,540 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 4,193 in Balochistan, 678 in Gilgit Baltistan, 2,192 in Islamabad and 240 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir so far. The virus has claimed at least 1,443 lives while about 24,131 coronavirus patients have recovered so far. On Saturday, Minister of State for Narcotics and Kashmir Committee Chairman Shehryar Afridi tested positive for Covid-19, joining a long list of lawmakers to contract the coronavirus in Pakistan. “I have tested positive of COVID-19 and have isolated myself at home as per advice by medics. I need prayers and blessings. May Allah almighty help save all my countrymen from the pandemic under my PM Imran Khan,” the minister tweeted. A member of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) from KP assembly Inayatullah Khan also tested positive for Covid-19. Revealing on Saturday that 38 more people have died due to coronavirus in Sindh while 1,247 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah expressed worry that the pandemic situation is going from bad to worse. With 69 deaths reported on Friday and Saturday, the death toll in Sindh has reached 465, while the total number of coronavirus cases has soared to 27,360. The chief minister stated that 5,481 tests were conducted, of which 1,247 resulted positive – around 23 per cent of the tested samples, which is significantly higher than the overall average of 15.5 per cent of 176,703 samples tested to date. He also voiced concern over the increasing death ratio, while disclosing that 310 patients are in critical condition and 68 of them had already been shifted to ventilators. At least 21 employees, including four doctors, paramedics, a security guard and a cook, at the Syed Abdullah Shah Institute of Medical Sciences in Sehwan were found to be infected by the coronavirus on Saturday. Following the diagnosis, the employees have been quarantined. The Balochistan health department, in its daily situational report, confirmed 106 new cases of coronavirus to bring the provincial tally to 4,193. The virus has claimed 46 lives while 1,471 patients have recovered in the province so far. The health officials have confirmed 13 new cases of Covid-19 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), bringing the state’s tally to 240. New cases were reported among residents of various districts, including nine in Muzaffarabad, three in Bagh and one in Rawalakot, health officials confirmed. The AJK government has decided to increase the testing capacity to 250 tests per day. The Gilgit-Baltistan health department, in its daily situational report, confirmed two more casualties due to coronavirus to bring the region’s death toll to 11. It also reported 18 new cases to raise the Covid-19 tally to 678. 490 patients have so far recovered and active cases stand at 177 in the region. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department, in its daily situational report, confirmed eight more deaths in the past 24 hours to bring the provincial death toll to 453. Four deaths were reported from Peshawar, and one each from Charsadda, Swat, Buner and Abbottabad. At least 473 new cases – 13 from Torkham and 74 from Int’l flights center – were also reported, taking the total to 9,540.