ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday reported over 3,000 daily cases of coronavirus for the first time in nearly four months, an alarming sign of the viral infection once again spreading fast in the South Asian nation.
The country has been experiencing a fifth wave of virus infections driven by the omicron strain, which has triggered lockdowns and restrictions in countries across the world. The country last reported over 3,000 daily infections on September 15, 2021.
According to the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), which oversees Pakistan’s pandemic response, 3,019 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours.
Five people died of the infection, while the positivity ratio jumped to 6.12 percent. The surge in cases has pushed the overall number of infections in Pakistan to 1,312,267 and the active number of cases to 23,290.
Over 650 coronavirus patients were currently in critical care across the South Asian nation, according to official figures.
Since its emergence in South Africa in November 2021, the heavily mutated omicron variant has spread quickly and infected people in at least 128 countries, causing troubles for many nations and people seeking to reboot their economies and lives after nearly two years of disruption.
The Pakistani government, however, announced earlier this month it was not considering a lockdown despite the recent surge in the number of infections.
“At this time there is no plan of lockdowns,” Planning Minister Asad Umar told Geo News. “For now, we are closely monitoring the numbers from Pakistan and across the globe; we are emphasizing on vaccinations.”
Pakistan has so far vaccinated 165,296,972, according to the NCOC. On Wednesday, authorities administered coronavirus vaccine doses to 821,320 people.
