Third COVID-19 wave: 135 deaths in a day set new record for Pakistan in 2021

Pakistan reported its highest number of coronavirus-related deaths so far this year on Wednesday, amid third wave of the pandemic that is putting the country’s health service under extreme strain.

The government portal keeping track of the outbreak in the country registered 135 deaths in the last 24 hours — up from 118 a day earlier and the highest number of fatalities since June 20 — taking the total number of deaths on the measure to 15,754.

According to the Ministry of National Health Services (MoNHS) data, 48,092 tests were conducted on Tuesday after which 4,681 people tested positive for the contagion disease. The total number of cases in the country is 734,423.

Punjab recorded the most deaths during the last 24 hours at 79 followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with 49.

Sindh has been the worst-hit with 269,840 cases followed by Punjab where 255,571 people have been tested positive, the statement said.

Moreover, over 80% ventilators are occupied across the country with around 700 out of total 5,000+ patients in critical care.

Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has issued revised guidelines for the second COVID-19-hit Ramzan to tackle the spread of the virus.