Recoveries surpassing fresh cases
As 2,408 new infections emerged on Monday, January 11, 3,606 patients managed to beat COVID-19, taking total recoveries to 461,977 at a recovery rate of 91.2%. Total active cases have now dropped to 34,007 individuals.
41 succumbed to the virus as the national death tally continues to inch toward a grim 11,000 mark. Punjab suffered the highest number of casualties with 27 reported deaths while Sindh followed with nine deaths, Balochistan with three and the Islamabad Capital Territory with two.
54 patients turned critical in same time frame, taking total critical cases to 2,340.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prisoners get PPE
Personal protective equipment (PPE), sanitizers and soap worth Rs. 9.7 million were delivered to jail staff and inmates in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prisons to mitigate the spread of the highly infection coronavirus disease in these facilities. The supplies were arranged and supplied by the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Unit at the United States Embassy as part of an initiative between the US Mission to Pakistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prisons department to improve prison conditions.
Plasma therapy ineffective for the severely ill, study finds
An international clinical trial of convalescent plasma therapy stopped the enrolment of severely ill patients after evidence emerged that the treatment was ineffective in critical cases, it was revealed on Monday. No significant beneficial outcomes were recorded for 900 critically ill COVID-19 patients that had volunteered for the trial, although no harmful effects were recorded either. However, the study noted that the therapy was far more effective for the moderately ill or patients with excess virus.
Convalescent plasma therapy involves transferring blood plasma rich with antibodies from a recovered COVID-19 patient to under-treatment patients.