In a tweet, the NCOC said: “Statistics 6 Feb 22: total tests in last 24 hours: 56,051; positive cases: 4,874; positivity %: 8.69%; deaths: 30; patients on critical care: 1,681.”

The countrywide tally showed that the highest number of cases were reported in Sindh, with 551,399 infected patients, followed by Punjab (488,603), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (202,190), Islamabad (131,337), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (40,568), Balochistan (34,785), and Gilgit Baltistan (10,891).

The NCOC forum, which serves as the centre of the country’s unified efforts to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, also shared the vaccine statistics. “Vaccine administered across Pakistan in last 24 hours: 1,740,554; total vaccine administered till now: 184,073,883.”

The World Health Organisation and medical experts have stressed the need to follow the SOPs even if people have been inoculated with the anti-Covid jab. Most of the cases are reported to have been caused by Omicron – the new coronavirus variant – which appeared to be less severe but according to the WHO should not be categorised as “mild”.