PAKISTAN on Thursday (4) surpassed China in the Covid-19 tally at 85,246 with 4,688 new infections in the past 24 hours. The deadly virus has so far claimed 1,770 lives in the country. As many as 82 people died of the virus in a day, the ministry of national health services said.
China with 84,160 patients has been placed at 18th position, one step lower than Pakistan, according to the data of Johns Hopkins University.
Pakistan has said that 30,128 had recovered from the disease.
Sindh so far reported 32,910 patients of coronavirus, Punjab 31,104, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 11,373, Balochistan 5,224, Islamabad 3,544, Gilgit-Baltistan 824 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir reported 285 cases of the viral disease.
On the positive side a record 20,167 tests were done in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of tests conducted so far to 615,511.
As the number of infections continue to go up, minister for planning Asad Umar said an effective media campaign is being launched across the country to create awareness and to educate the masses for voluntary compliance of Standard Operating Procedures.
Chairing a meeting of the National Command and Operation Centre, Umar said there should be a clear message conveyed to the masses that the government is going to spearhead stringent actions to ensure social distancing and compliance of safety guidelines in public places and high risk areas, Radio Pakistan reported.
He said administrative actions would be initiated across the country against the violators of standard operating procedure put at place to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Ashwini Guruji 
