Pak’s COVID-19 tally crosses 2.4 lakh mark

Islamabad, July 10: Pakistan's number of coronavirus cases on Thursday crossed the 240,000-mark after 3,359 new infections were detected in the last 24 hours, while 61 people died of the disease, taking the death toll to 4,983, the health ministry said.

According to the Ministry of National Health Services, the number of recovered patients have reached 145,311.

The number of critically ill patients are 2,193, out of which 435 are on ventilators. The death toll has reached 4,983 after another 61 people died due to the COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the ministry said.

Out of the total 240,848 infections, Sindh has reported 99,362 cases, Punjab 84,587, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 29,052, Islamabad 13,731, Balochistan 11,052, Gilgit-Baltistan 1,605 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 1,459 cases.

A total of 1,491437 tests have been conducted, including 24,333 in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Islamabad Isolation Hospital and Infectious Treatment Centre (IHITC) was expected to become operational as Pakistan's first specialised hospital for infectious diseases.

A 250-bed state-of-the-art hospital was built in record 40 days to meet the increasing demands to ease pressure on other hospitals in Islamabad, the officials said.

Separately, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) decided to set up a committee in the interior ministry to prevent the spread of misinformation about the deadly coronavirus on social media.

The committee led by Interior Minister Ijaz Shah will prepare a legal framework to prevent and counter fake news.

Also, Prime Minister Imran Khan has asked to ensure strict implementation of the standard operating procedures on the occasion of Eidul Azha and during Muharram.

Eidul Azha will fall on August 12 while the month of Muharram, which marks the start of the Islamic year, will begin on September 1, Dawn News reported.