The national tally of total active COVID-19 cases was recorded 76,581 on Thursday with 3,012 more people testing positive for the deadly virus and 3,897 people recovering from the disease during the last 24 hours. Sixty-six corona patients have died during past 24 hours, 58 of whom were under treatment in the hospitals and eight of them perished in their respective quarantines or homes, according to the latest update issued by the National command and Operation Centre (NCOC). Most of the deaths occurred in Punjab followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Out of the total 66 deaths occurred, 19 of them died were under treatment on ventilators. There were 5,039 Covid infected patients under treatment in critical condition in various Covid dedicated healthcare facilities of the country. The National Covid positivity ratio during past 24 hours was recorded 5.3%. The Covid positivity ratio is the percentage of actual positive cases appearing in every 100 tests performed to identify infected individuals. The maximum ventilators were occupied in four major cities including Sargodha 55%, Bahawalpur 69%, Lahore 49% and Multan 76%. The maximum oxygen beds (alternate oxygen providing facility other than ventilator administered as per medical requirement of COVID patient) was also occupied in four major cities of Bannu 67%, Swabi 63%, Sargodha 57%, and Gujrat 63%. Around 553 ventilators were occupied elsewhere in the country while no COVID affected person was on ventilator in Balochistan and Gilgit Baltistan (GB). Some 56,778 tests were conducted across the country on Wednesday, including 18,225 in Sindh, 18,399 in Punjab, 12,207 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 5,135 in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), 1,289 in Balochistan, 544 Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and 979 in AJK. Around 1,112,236 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan making it a significant count with over 90 percent recovery ratio of the affected patients. Since the pandemic broke out, a total of 1,215,821 cases were detected that also included the perished, recovered and under treatment COVID-19 patients so far, including AJK 33,551, Balochistan 32,671, GB 10,204, ICT 103,549, KP 169,972, Punjab 418,196 and Sindh 447,678. About 27,004 deaths were recorded in country since the eruption of the contagion. Around 7,210 people perished in Sindh, 16 of them died in the hospitals and two out of the hospitals on Wednesday. 12,319 people died in Punjab died with 28 deaths occured in past 24 hours. Some 22 individuals died in the hospitals and six out of the hospitals. As many as 5,329 people expired in KP, 19 of them died in hospitals on Wednesday, 893 individuals died in ICT, one of them expired in the hospital on Wednesday, 344 people died in Balochistan, 182 infected people perished in GB, and 727 people died in AJK. A total of 18,682,730 corona tests have been conducted so far, while 640 hospitals are equipped with COVID facilities across the country. Some 5,590 corona patients were admitted to hospitals. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, Dr Faisal Sultan on Thursday said that Pakistan was among the few countries from whom the international community should learn how to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. Addressing the seminar on ‘the COVID Pandemic: Lessons from Italy and Pakistan’, at the Institute of Regional Studies, Dr Faisal said that the government of Pakistan had made and implemented its strategy against Coronavirus with full dedication and commitment. He said that decisions were made and steps were taken on the basis of experts’ opinions and applying scientific methods. He added a dedicated team at National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) was responsible to monitor the daily pandemic situation and prepare action plan in coordination with the provinces and district administrations. Dr Faisal said, “World can learn from about how to fight future pandemics due to hard work of our frontline health workers and doctors.” He said that Pakistan deployed the infrastructure built up over many years for polio to combat Covid-19 as the community health workers who had been trained to go door-to-door vaccinating children for polio had been utilized for surveillance, contact tracing and care. He said that it was collective efforts from the platform of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) due to which not only Pakistan proved all international estimates regarding the number of cases wrong but also minimized the cases. He said that sincere efforts were made to further push back the virus. Pakistan had closed its borders and took a number of steps to stop the transmission due to which the first case of Covid-19 was reported very late, he added. Similarly, he added, a policy of smart lock down was implemented to control disease spread through industries, including the construction industry, educational institutions, restaurants, marriage halls and markets. He said that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was involved to ensure medical equipment and health related supplies at the earliest due to which coordination with the provinces improved.