Daily Times

LAHORE:  In a major development, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid has said that the coronavirus positivity ratio across the province has reduced to two percent.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday, she said that parks and tombs have been opened however, indoor wedding events are still banned. The markets will remain close on Saturdays and Sundays, she added. Yasmin said that the coronavirus pandemic can be controlled by implementing standard operating procedures (SOPs). The vaccination process across the province has been sped up, she added.

On the other hand, Pakistan has reported 76 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 932,140. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 21,265.

According to the latest figures by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) 1,629 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Punjab remains the worst-hit province in terms of deaths and cases followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Till now 10,290 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab 5,116 in Sindh, 4,144 in KP, 765 in Islamabad, 554 in Azad Kashmir, 289 in Balochistan, and 107 in GB. Furthermore, 342,192 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Punjab, 323,072 in Sindh, 134,321 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 81,700 in Islamabad, 25,729 in Balochistan, 19,493 in Azad Kashmir and 5,633 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Pakistan has so far conducted 13,523,599 coronavirus tests and 52,427 in the last 24 hours. 863,111 patients have recovered in the country whereas 3,303 patients are in critical condition.