Daily Times

Pakistan on Tuesday reported the lowest number of new coronavirus cases in over 12 weeks, with only 936 fresh cases in the last 24 hours as the number of positive cases in the country surged to 276,013. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 5,881.

According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 23 coronavirus patients lost their lives in 24 hours. Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad. Till now 119,398 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 92,279 in Punjab, 33,724 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 14,938 in Islamabad, 11,624 in Balochistan, 2,040 in Azad Kashmir and 2,010 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

On Tuesday, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that 574 coronavirus cases and 10 deaths were reported in the province during the past 24 hours. In a statement, he said 9,571 tests were carried out during this period. With the new cases, the provincial total has risen to 119, 398 while the death toll is 2,172.

So far 108,989 patients have recovered from the disease, he said.

Punjab reported 206 coronavirus cases and nine deaths during the past 24 hours, according to the government’s portal for tracking the spread of the disease in the country. With the new cases, the provincial total has risen to 92,279 while the death toll is 2,125.

Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir collectively reported 81 Covid-19 cases and one death during the past 24 hours. According to the government’s portal for tracking the spread of the virus, 54 cases and one death were reported in Islamabad; GB recorded 21 cases and AJK reported six cases during this period.

Another 1,410 people recovered from the coronavirus during the past 24 hours, according to the government’s Covid-19 portal for tracking the spread of the disease in the country. With the new recoveries, the total number has risen to 242,436.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza once again urged the people to strictly follow safety measures on Eid-ul-Azha for effective prevention from coronavirus, Radio Pakistan reported. Addressing the media, he said although spread of virus in the country has declined significantly by eighty percent, however, we need to continue observing precautionary measures to reduce spread of pandemic.

On the international front, United States President Donald Trump was back to spreading misinformation on tackling coronavirus and the credibility of the America’s leading infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci. Trump pushed unproven claims that an anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, is an effective treatment for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. However, numerous studies have suggested otherwise, and the US Food and Drug Administration recently withdrew an order that allowed the drug’s use as a emergency treatment for Covid-19.

In China, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention Gao Fu disclosed that he has been injected with an experimental COVID-19 vaccine in a bid to persuade the public to follow suit once the vaccine is approved.

According to a news report by Associated Press (AP), a government-owned Chinese company had earlier administered trial shots in March, before human testing had been approved, and had to face heavy criticism from experts raising ethical concerns.

During a webinar hosted by Alibaba Health, an arm of the Chinese e-commerce giant, and Cell Press, an American publisher of scientific journals on Sunday, Gao said: “I’m going to reveal something undercover: I am injected with one of the vaccines. I hope it will work.”