KARACHI: Pakistan continues to witness a surge in COVID-19 cases as the country lodged 435 fresh infections of the virus during the past 24 hours, as per the statistics issued by the National Institute of Health (NIH) on Saturday morning.

As per the details, the country’s positivity rate rose to 3.19% after 13,644 diagnostic tests were conducted during the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, one more patient succumbed to the virus during the same period.

“However, 87 patients remain in critical condition and are being treated in various hospitals across the country,” the NIH stated.

COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 30,383 people in Pakistan so far. According to the government dashboard, the total number of cases in the country is 1,531,982.

Sindh orders strict implementation of SOPs

In a letter to the Karachi and Hyderabad commissioners a day earlier, the Sindh health department expressed concerns about a sixth COVID-19 wave.

The health department directed the commissioners to ensure that COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) were strictly followed in the two cities.

Mask-wearing, social distancing, checking vaccination cards, and limiting public transportation occupancy to 70% are among the SOPs.

The health department is concerned about the spread of the COVID-19 subvariants BA-5 and BA-4.