Coronavirus kills 18 more people, infects 441 in 24 hours

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reported 441 new cases of the novel coronavirus over the last 24 hours, lifting the national tally of cases to 296,590.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), eighteen more people succumbed to the highly contagious disease during this period, pushing the death toll from the virus to 6,318

The number of active cases has gone down to 8,813 as 281,459 Covid-19 patients have recuperated from the disease. As many as 20,480 samples were tested during the previous 24 hours, bringing the number of tests conducted so far to more than 2.6 million.

There are 1,039 patients under treatment in 735 hospitals across the country, out of whom 90 are on ventilators.

‘Recipe for disaster’

On Sept 1, the World Health Organization had warned that countries with significant active spread of coronavirus must prevent amplifying events, as opening up without the virus being under control would be a “recipe for disaster.”

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recognised that many people are getting tired of restrictions and want to return to normality eight months into the pandemic.

“No country can just pretend the pandemic is over,” he said. “The reality is this virus spreads easily. Opening up without control is a recipe for disaster.”