Pakistan records dip in daily new COVID-19 cases

Islamabad, May 4

Pakistan reported 3,377 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the lowest spike in daily new infections in nearly a month, according to official data.

  With the new cases, the total number of infections in the country rose to 837,523, the Ministry of National Health Services said.

Last time when less than 4,000 new cases were reported in a day was on April 5, when 3,953 new cases were detected.

In the last 24 hours, 161 new virus-related deaths were reported, taking the COVID-19 death toll to 18,310.

Pakistan has been trying to contain the virus by increasing vaccination efforts and enforcing safety regulations.

Special Assistant to the PM on Health, Dr Faisal Sultan, has said that about 70 per cent of the population would be vaccinated by the end of this year.

Pakistan is expected to receive 1.2 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine via the COVAX facility this week. 

The shipment is arriving from South Korea, according to health officials.

Pakistan plans to vaccinate 20 per cent of its 220 million population free of cost through this facility. PTI