ISLAMABAD: A total of 418 people tested positive for Covid-19, 10 people lost their lives and 411 others recovered over the last 24 hours from the coronavirus. The positivity rate, however, increased to 2.2 per cent on Friday.

The total number of active cases in the country on Friday was 22,498.

A total of 40,143 Covid-19 tests were conducted in the country. They include 14,434 in Punjab, 13,127 in Sindh, 7,690 in KPK, 3808 in ICT, 644 in Balochistan, 263 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 177 in AJK.

Ten Covid-19 patients died over the last 24 hours in the country. A total of 28,648 people have lost their lives so far in the country due to the deadly virus since the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020.

According to the latest update issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), most of the people died in Punjab followed by KP and Sindh as four people died in Punjab, three in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, two in Sindh and one in Islamabad. No death was reported from Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK over the last 24 hours.

Ten patients die, over 400 infected

Most of the ventilators were occupied in four major cities. They include Islamabad 12 per cent, Peshawar 18 per cent, Faisalabad 13 per cent and Multan 24 per cent.

Around 1,230,094 people have so far recovered from the disease across the country showing a recovery rate of over 90 per cent.

Till Friday, the country had administered 120,233,579 doses of Covid-19 vaccine, including 78,747,199 who got the first dose and 48,890,845 people who got the second dose.

In a related development, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan informed the Senate on Friday that some elements had tried to make fake Covid-19 vaccination cards and certificates but the National Command Operation Centre had taken solid steps to ensure that no fake vaccination card or certificate was issued to anyone in the country.

The minister was replying to a question of Senator Prof Dr Mehar Taj Roghani about fake Covid-19 vaccination cards, certificates being issued by some elements in the country.

The minister further said that the system of NCOC was foolproof and the NCOC had taken steps to ensure that no fake card or certificate was issued to anyone in the country.

He said the federal health ministry wanted to launch health card scheme in Sindh also to facilitate the people there and appealed to the provincial government, either to launch a similar scheme on its own or extend cooperation to the federal government so that the scheme could be launched in Sindh also.

Meanwhile, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) and Argentine Regulatory Authority on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate with each other in the fields of medicine, medical devices and others.

“Authorities of the two countries will work together to improve drug regulations. The memorandum of understanding will help in the export of medicines to Argentina,” DRAP Chief Executive Officer Dr Asim Rauf said.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2021