ISLAMABAD: Positive cases of Covid-19 continue to emerge in the country as 3,772 new cases and 80 deaths were reported on Monday. The number of deaths caused by the virus in the country crossed the 25,000 mark.

Moreover, 46,456,077 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered across the country.

Data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed that the number of deaths has swell to 25,003 — 11,557 deaths in Punjab, 6,612 in Sindh, 4,797 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 852 in Islamabad, 680 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 335 in Balochistan and 170 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Talking to Dawn, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) secretary general Dr Qaiser Sajjad said that as many as 220 doctors had died due to Covid-19 across the country, with 77 deaths recorded in Sindh.

Over 500 deaths reported in one week

He said Dr Mahnoor Farzand, who was eight-month pregnant and non-vaccinated, became the latest health professional victim of the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that unfortunately a large number of doctors died since the emergence of Delta variant.

The NCOC data further showed that 25,505 people were infected with the virus and 525 died in last one week.

While 486 ventilators were in use across the country, 69pc vents were occupied in Multan, 66pc in Bahawalpur, 41pc in Peshawar and 40pc in Islamabad.

Data regarding beds with oxygen showed that 72pc such beds were in use in Abbottabad, 65pc in Swabi and over 50pc each in Gujranwala and Peshawar.

The number of active cases was 89,919 as of August 23 and the national positivity was 7pc. A total of 1,127,584 cases have been reported since the beginning of the pandemic and 1,012,662 people have recovered.

Moreover, 5,899 patients were hospitalised on Monday.

An official of the Ministry of Nat­io­nal Health Services, requesting not to be named, said the number of cases, which was around 5,000 on Aug­ust 11, dropped to about 4,000.

“However, I fear that the number of cases can again start increasing. We appreciate the decision of the Sindh government that only the children of vaccinated people will be allowed in schools. Opening of schools with such a direction may increase the number of cases, but it will defiantly reduce the number of hospitalised patients as vaccinated people usually have mild symptoms,” the official said.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2021