ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported 5,661 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, a government portal showed on Thursday, the highest number of daily infections recorded since April, and a day after the federal government said it would open schools across the country, except in the southern Sindh province.
According to the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the government’s central body dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, of 62,462 tests conducted until Thursday, 5,661 people had tested positive for COVID-19, while the positivity rate rose to 9.06 percent.
The alarming rise in cases comes as an Inter-Provincial Education Ministers Conference (IPEMC) on Wednesday said schools would remain open in all the provinces except Sindh, Pakistan’s second populous province, whose administration said it would review the coronavirus situation on August 8 and decide on reopening schools and holding exams.
On Thursday, Pakistan also set another record: of administering the highest number of vaccinations in a day - 1.1 million - since the shots began to be rolled out in February.
The government of Pakistan also urged people on Thursday to get vaccinated, saying an analysis of cases by the NCOC across Pakistan “clearly shows that vaccination is helpful in declining the positivity ratio of Covid-19 cases.”
