15,525 cases in Pak:

Pakistan’s health authorities on Thursday confirmed that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country soared to 15,525 while at least 343 people lost their lives to the virus.

The eastern Punjab province is the worst hit with 5,827 cases, 5,695 cases in Sindh, 2,313 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 978 in Balochistan, 333 in Gilgit-Baltistan region, 313 in federal capital Islamabad and 66 in the Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

At least 3,425 patients have so far recovered while the death toll from the virus stands at 343, according to Pakistan’s National Command and Operation Center.

The number of cases has continued to soar despite the five-week long lockdown with an upward trend in deaths per day. Pakistan has witnessed 20 deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest so far since April 20.

However, the government has decided to bring back 7,500 overseas Pakistanis in the first week of May to rescue, evacuate and repatriate Pakistanis and foreigners stranded in different countries.

Earlier, Pakistan suspended all international flights and all restaurants and shopping malls were ordered to be closed.

The first case in Pakistan emerged on February 26 when a young man from Karachi city tested positive.

The number of COVID 19 cases started to rise fluidly as 302 total cases were confirmed till March 18 where the country also confirmed its first death due to the virus.

In the second week of April, total confirmed cases jumped to 4,265 with 61 lives lost to the virus.

The start of second week saw a jump to 342 cases with total tally at 5,800 cases where the death toll touched 100.

Pakistan tops a critical mark of the outbreak as the total number of cases surged above 10,000 on April 22 forcing the government to extend the lockdown until May 9. The number of cases and deaths have an upward trend in the country with around 700 cases on average per day confirmed in the last week of April.

Meanwhile, the total number of cases reached 1,949 in Afghanistan where the health ministry has warned of “critical weeks ahead.”

Afghan Public Health Ministry Spokesman Wahidullah Mayar in a statement said, “The positive cases are increasing day by day and we have critical weeks ahead.”

The country has reported 120 new cases of the virus in the last 24 hours while the death toll reached 60 with 252 patients having recovered so far.