ISLAMABAD: Pakistan continues to record a downward trend in the tally of COVID-19 cases, as 5,196 fresh pandemic infections were logged countrywide during the past 24 hours, as compared to yesterday’s 6,357. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), a total of 51,063 samples were tested, out of which 5,196 turned out to be positive at the positivity rate of 10.17pc as compared to yesterday’s 12.81 per cent. With the emergence of new cases, the countrywide tally of cases has jumped to 1,386,348. Fifteen more patients of COVID-19 died because of the viral disease in the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 29,137. The number of critical patients rose to 1,293 as compared to yesterday’s 1,113. Including 51,063 tests over the past hours, Pakistan has so far conducted 24,691,005 tests to diagnose the deadly virus and 1,271,087 people have regained their health including 1,453 in the past 24 hours. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) had warned that it was dangerous to assume the Omicron variant would herald the end of COVID-19’s acutest phase, exhorting nations to stay focused to beat the pandemic. “It’s dangerous to assume that Omicron will be the last variant and that we are in the end game,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a WHO executive board meeting of the two-year pandemic that has killed nearly 6 million people. “On the contrary, globally the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.”