Pakistan reports over 2000 COVID-19 cases in single day 

ISLAMABAD: National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) recently reported over 2,000 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours in the highest daily tally since September 23. 

In the last 24 hours, 2,074 new cases were reported, compared to 2,233 on September 23. Furthermore, fatalities reached double digits for the first time since December 21, when ten deaths were confirmed.

The NCOC reported that the positive rate has risen to 4.7 per cent. The number of active cases surpassed 20,000, with 628 individuals in critical condition.

The NCOC statistics also revealed an alarming rise in city-level positivity rates. Karachi, which seems to be emerging as the epicentre of the current wave, had a positivity rate of 20.22 per cent, followed by Mirpur, which had a positivity score of 10 per cent. The positivity rate in Lahore was 7.15 per cent, while it was 4.56 per cent in Islamabad and 4.06 per cent in Rawalpindi.

The Omicron variant of the COVID-19, which has introduced a fifth wave of the disease, is responsible for the uptick in cases.