Pakistan crosses grim milestone of 11,000 Covid-19 deaths

Citing NCOC, Geo News reported that since the start of January 2021, the country has witnessed 48.8 deaths on average daily with hospital intensive care units nearing capacity as active Covid-19 cases surge to 35,485.

The number of coronavirus deaths in Pakistan reached 11,055 on Tuesday according to the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) tally.

Students get sanitised before entering classrooms as secondary schools reopen amid the second wave of the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Peshawar, Pakistan. (Reuters)

The rising death toll comes even as a new coronavirus variant threatens the country.

Citing NCOC, Geo News reported that since the start of January 2021, the country has witnessed 48.8 deaths on average daily with hospital intensive care units nearing capacity as active Covid-19 cases surge to 35,485.

Over 2,000 people died of Covid-19 in December last year while the death toll for November 2020 was 1,268. October recorded 339 fatalities.

Pakistan is currently in the grip of the second wave of Covid-19 infections with a new, more contagious variant of the coronavirus, first identified in the United Kingdom, detected in Sindh.

On December 29, Pakistan reported its first confirmed cases of the new coronavirus strain in 3 UK returnees, Dawn reported.