COVID-19 situation update
Daily positivity rate of 5.55% was recorded for Monday, January 4, as cases see a continuous decline. Fewer than 2,000 (1,947) fresh infections were reported while 1,903 patients managed to recover for COVID-19, contributing to a recovery rate of 90.6%.
Deaths, although at a stagnant 2.1%, jumped from 39 on January 3 to 59 on January 4. Punjab accounted for the highest number of coronavirus case fatalities, with 36 lost to the disease. Sindh followed with twelve, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammu and Kashmir reported eight and three fatalities respectively.
2,219 of 35,707 active cases are in critical condition, however no patient reached critical status in the past 24 hours.
UK strain confirmed in 2 Pakistanis
The National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) confirmed that two samples of overseas Pakistanis who had recently returned from Britain were positive for the new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7, which emerged in the UK late last year. The UK strain is known to be 50% more transmissible, however there is not enough evidence so far to suggest that it is more severe.
Campaign to boost immunity against virus
The University of Health Sciences, in collaboration with the Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine and Scottman Pharma, launched the ‘Vitamin D for All’ at the Governor House in Punjab. The campaign aims at raising health awareness by urging the public, especially healthcare workers, to take vitamin D supplements in order to boost the immune system against various diseases including the novel coronavirus disease.