Pakistan reported the lowest number of coronavirus cases for the first time since April 2020 after 176 people tested positive for the virus on November 28.

The last time the country reported the same number of infections was on April 5, 2020.

During the last 24 hours, 36,979 tests were conducted across the country, taking the total tests conducted to 21,913,668. Out of these, Sindh reported 37 cases, Punjab (64), Islamabad (35), AJK (37) and KPK (33). Meanwhile, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan reported no new Covid-19 cases.

Pakistan has so far reported 1,284,365 coronavirus cases since the pandemic last year. The coronavirus positivity ratio was recorded at 0.59%.

The active number of Covid-19 cases also saw a decline from 22,000 and now stands at 13,738. Meanwhile, the virus claimed five more lives during the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 28,709. There are 923 critical cases in the country.

Omicron variant: CAA notifies fresh travel ban

The country reported 172 recoveries in the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 1,241,761. So far, over 122,066,155 doses of the coronavirus vaccines have been administered in Pakistan.

After the emergence of a new coronavirus variant, Omicron, the NCOC has urged the citizens to get themselves inoculated and ensure that they get tested in case of any symptoms.

Moreover, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued a new travel advisory for Category-C. The CAA has enlisted 17 countries in the fresh travel advisory, South Africa, Hong Kong, Iraq, Namibia and Ukraine among them.

Emergence of ‘Omicron’: People should follow SOPs seriously: NCOC

The passengers travelling from the category-c countries would require permission from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). “They would have to compulsorily provide evidence of full Covid-19 vaccination,” the CAA notified.

The discovery of a new coronavirus variant has triggered global alarm with a number of countries suspending travel from South Africa. The World Health Organisation (WHO) in a statement said it was designating the variant, named omicron, as being “of concern”, a label only given to four variants to date.

This article was first published in Business Recorder on Nov 29, 2021.