ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government reported on Tuesday that 67 people had died of the coronavirus in the country in the last 24 hours, the highest number of fatalities in nearly five months.

After a peak of over 6,800 daily infections in Pakistan in June, the number fell to a low of 213 in August, and remained below 700 for most of the last three months. But infections have picked up steadily this past month and officials have said the second wave of the disease has arrived.

Data issued by the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), which oversees efforts against the coronavirus, showed the total death toll from the virus had risen to 8,091 and number of infections to 400,482, of which 2,458 were new infections reported over the last 24 hours.

Date released on Tuesday showed that the highest case positivity rate was observed in Mirpur at 20.62%, followed by Peshawar at 19.58% and Hyderabad at 19.03%. Karachi recorded a positivity ration of 13.9%, Abbottabad 11.21%, Multan 10.66% and Rawalpindi 9.27%.

Fresh restrictions have been imposed across the country though Prime Minister Imran Khan has repeatedly ruled out a complete lockdown, saying Pakistanis would have to ‘learn to live with’ the virus and take extra precautions.

His government has recently made wearing face masks mandatory in public spaces, banned public rallies, limited large public gatherings to 300 people, banned indoor weddings, closed shrines, cinemas, and theaters, and instructed public and private offices to adopt a work-from-home policy.

The federal government has also closed all educational institutes from November 26 to January 10 and postponed all examinations except admissions and recruitment tests.