Lahore/Quetta/Karachi/Peshawar (Staff Report/Agencies): The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 1,522,862 on Wednesday after 443 new cases surfaced in the country during the last 24 hours.
As per the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, 34,476 tests were conducted in last 24 hours while positivity ratio remained 1.28%.
Overall 574,157 cases were confirmed in Sindh, 504,577 in Punjab, 218,777 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 35,460 in Balochistan, 134,991 in Islamabad, 11,673 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and 43,227 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to the government's COVID-19 portal, the death toll related to coronavirus has reached to 30,333 with no new fatalities reported during the last 24 hours.
This is for the first time that the country reported zero deaths in two years.
Over the last twenty four hours, total number of recovered COVID-19 patients across the country reached 1,484,496 after another 7,700 virus recoveries were reported.
Statistics 23 Mar 22
— NCOC (@OfficialNcoc) March 22, 2022
Total Tests in Last 24 Hours: 34,476
Positive Cases: 443
Positivity %: 1.28%
Deaths :0
Patients on Critical Care: 455
Alhamdolilah no COVID related death reported in last 24 hours! This is first time in almost 2 years! ???????? ???????? ????????
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan has congratulated his government for the way it handled COVID pandemic better than all the countries in South Asia.
In a tweet on Wednesday, the premier shared the data of World Bank indicating the lowest unemployment rate among other South Asian countries during the period of 2020 to 2022.
The data shows during 2020 to 2022, India's unemployment rate remained at eight percent while Pakistan outranked other South Asian countries with just 4.3 percent unemployment rate.
I want to congratulate my govt for the way we handled the Covid pandemic - better than all the countries in South Asia. https://t.co/r7RGc9xhvZ
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) March 23, 2022
It is pertinent to mention that the global coronavirus cases have reportedly surpassed 474,766 million and death toll tops 6,122,986.