Pakistan, Afghanistan’s coronavirus death rate second-highest compared to neighbours

By
Web Desk
|

Pakistan and Afghanistan suffer the second-highest death rate from the novel coronavirus in comparison to its neighbouring countries, finds a World Health Organisation (WHO) report.

In the report, dated June 16, Pakistan had an estimated 13 coronavirus associated deaths per million of its residents. The highest mortality figures were recorded from Iran, which had 108 deaths per million of its inhabitants.

Pakistan and Afghanistan both ranked second, followed by India at seven deaths per million of its population. China had the least, three deaths per million.

Both China and India have a larger population than Pakistan.

However, in terms of laboratory testing of the virus per million, Pakistan performed better than most of its neighbours.

Also read: 'Something wrong or really good': Coronavirus strain prevalent in Pakistan puzzles health experts

Iran ranked the highest with 15,410 tests done per million of the population. Pakistan came in second with 4,410 tests per million, India was at 4,292 tests per million and last was Afghanistan at 1,522 tests per million.

The WHO report also provided a breakdown of testing per million in each province of Pakistan. The highest was scored by Islamabad, followed by the Gilgit Baltistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan and then Azad Jammu and Kashmir.