Pakistan reports 5,857 new coronavirus cases in last 24 hours

The coronavirus situation continues to deteriorate in Pakistan as the country reported 5,857 new coronavirus cases, taking the total tally to 778,238 with a positivity rate of 10.16% on Thursday.

About 57,591 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, from which 5,857 tests returned positive, showed the data issued by National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

About 98 more lost lives to coronavirus during the past 24 hours,  raising the country-wide death tally to 16,698.

On the other hand,  about 676,605 people have recovered from coronavirus across Pakistan since the pandemic hit country last year.

Out of 778,238 infections, Sindh has reported 275,081 cases, Punjab 279,437, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 109,704, Islamabad 71,533, Balochistan 21,242, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 16,026, and Gilgit Baltistan 5,215.

A day earlier, Federal Minister for Planning and Development and the Chief of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar had issued a warning, saying if the coronavirus situation continues to worsen in the country, the government will be compelled to impose more restrictions.

Umar issued the statement after chairing an important session at the NCOC to discuss the worsening coronavirus situation in the country.

The minister had said that if the situation persists, the government will be left with no choice but to shut down major cities to contain the spread of the virus.

"At the NCOC, we reviewed the pandemic situation, which is bad. We have taken several decisions to impose more curbs which would be announced on Friday," Umar said, adding major cities are not being closed right now, but a margin of only some days is left.