Pakistan's daily COVID-19 case count over 1,500 for third consecutive day

• With 1,737 new infections, Pakistan records over 1,500 daily cases for third continuous day.
• Steady increase seen in coronavirus positivity rate. Current rate is 3.65%.
• Number of active coronavirus cases reach 35,573.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported Friday morning a daily coronavirus case count over 1,500 for the third consecutive day as the country continues to record a small, but definitive uptick in virus cases.

According to National Command and Operation Center's daily data, 1,737 new coronavirus cases were detected in the last 24 hours after 47,528 tests were taken. The country last reported 830 daily cases on July 6.

The number of active cases in the country has also gone up to 35,573.

A steady increase has also been seen in the positivity rate, with Friday morning's rate recorded at 3.65%.

Another 25 people died from coronavirus in Pakistan, data by the NCOC showed. This pushed the nation's death tally to 22,520.

The total number of cases from the virus since the pandemic started have reached 969,476, while 911,383 people have recovered from the virus so far. 

Read more: Daily coronavirus case and death counts slowly going up again in Pakistan

According to a province-wise breakdown, the active cases in Sindh so far are 16,102, in Punjab 17,196, in Khyber Paktunkhwa 9,547, in Islamabad Capital Territory 1,978, in Balochistan 1,397, in Gilgit-Baltistan 475 and in Azad Jammu and Kashmir 833.

Pakistan rules out complete lockdown in case of a fourth coronavirus wave

Federal Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar has rejected the possibility of a complete lockdown in case Pakistan experiences a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The minister, speaking at the oath taking ceremony of the newly appointed members of the National Youth Council (NYC), said he feared the fourth wave of the virus will start in July.

Read more: PMA warns of fourth coronavirus wave in Pakistan by July end, early August

Umar, however, said Pakistan will impose smart lockdowns across the country, as it had done before, to counter the virus, in case cases of the infection once again shoot up across the country. He added that the strategy had proven effective in stemming the spread of the virus in the past.

PM warns of a fourth COVID-19 wave

A day earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan had urged the masses to strictly observe the government's mandated COVID-19 standard operating procedures on Eidul Adha to keep the virus at bay.

PM Khan had warned the nation about the dangers of the Delta variant — which first emerged in India — and said that India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Indonesia are currently suffering because of it.

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