ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded more than 4,000 new coronavirus cases for a second consecutive day, announced the country’s central pandemic response body in a Twitter post on Sunday, as the COVID-19 positivity ratio in the southern city of Karachi surged to about 40 percent.
According to the official data provided by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), at least 4,027 people were infected by the virus across the country in the last 24 hours.
Pakistan conducted 51,236 tests during the same period, taking its overall positivity rate to 7.8 percent.
The country recorded 4,286 fresh coronavirus cases on Saturday with a positivity ratio of 8.16 percent.
Pakistan’s planning minister Asad Umar, who also heads he NCOC, said on Twitter earlier this month there was “clear evidence” that the fifth wave of the pandemic was beginning to sweep through the country.
The new virus wave primarily owes to the emergence of the omicron variant in South Africa last year which rapidly spread to other parts of the world.
Pakistani officials have urged people to take necessary precautions and get themselves inoculated to protect themselves against the debilitating respiratory disease.
However, the country’s most densely populated Karachi city has witnessed a significant increase in the COVID-19 positivity rate which touched 39.39 percent in the last 24 hours.
The city reported 2,412 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the data provided by the Sindh Health Department.
Given the rise in the number of fresh coronavirus cases, the NCOC is expected to take stringent measures in its next meeting on Monday wherein its officials are likely to review the situation of schools, restaurants and wedding halls.
