Pakistan's coronavirus tally crosses 2.21 lakh-mark, recovered cases surpass active cases in a first

Pakistan on Friday reported that 1,13,623 persons have recovered from the deadly coronavirus, surpassing the number of active Covid-19 infections in the country for the first time, authorities said.

According to the Ministry of National Health Services, “Out of the total 2,21,896 Covid-19 positive patients, 1,13,623 have so far recovered from the disease across the country”.

The recovered patients have surpassed the number of active 1,08,273 Covid-19 infections.

In Sindh, out of the 89,225 confirmed cases, 49,926 have recovered, while in Punjab, out of 78,956 patients, 33,786 have recovered. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, out of 27,170 cases, 14,715 have recovered and in Balochistan, out 10,666 cases 5,073 recovered, the ministry said.

In the federal capital Islamabad, out of 13,195 cases, 8,264 have recovered. In Gilgit-Baltistan, out of 1,524 cases, 1,173 patients have recovered and in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, out of 1,160 confirmed patients, 686 have recovered.

The ministry said that so far 4,551 patients died, including 78 in the last 24 hours. Another 2,479 were in critical condition.

The authorities performed another 22,941 coronavirus tests in the last 24 hours, taking the number of total tests to 1,350,773.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Security, Dr Sania Nishtar said that over 1.23 crore families were assisted in the past 11 weeks under the Ehsaas Cash programme.

She on Thursday briefed ambassadors, high commissioners, country representatives and charge d'Affaires from over 60 countries on the social protection response to Covid-19.

Under the programme, Rs 12,000 was provided to each poor family.