Over a year has passed since Pakistan reported its first-ever novel coronavirus infection but the deadly flu bug is still wreaking havoc in several major cities of the country. In the last 24 hours, 1,176 new cases were detected while 23 people succumbed to the viral disease.

According to the latest statistics provided by the federal government, to date, 579,973 people have contracted the virus while 12,860 patients have died due to the severe pneumonia-like illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2, the medical terminology for novel coronavirus.

• Yesterday, 38,920 people were sampled for coronavirus out of which 1,176 tested positive. This means that the positivity rate remained 3%.

Pakistan has seen the cases reduce significantly in the past couple of months but health authorities have warned that the scare of a surge is still there. So maintaining social distancing and adhering to coronavirus SOPs is our best bet to contain the uncontrolled spread of viral infection.