Pakistan’s coronavirus positivity rate was recorded at 1.54 per cent over the last 24 hours, making it the third consecutive day it stayed below two per cent, according to National Command and Operation Centre data issued on Saturday.

“Statistics 12 Mar 22: total tests in last 24 hours: 36,885; positive cases: 571; positivity %: 1.54%; deaths: six; patients on critical care: 641,” the NCOC said in a tweet.

The Covid situation has witnessed a downward trend in the last month, with decreased virus statistics and increased vaccination among the public. However, standard operating procedures are still being implemented as experts have expressed fears over categorising virus variants as "mild" and called for breaking the chain of the virus.

NCOC head Asad Umar on March 6 said Pakistan reached the vaccination milestone, after inoculating 100 million people, as part of the country’s efforts to return to normalcy and “get rid of the virus”. The government’s countrywide door-to-door vaccination campaign, which started on February 1, had also contributed to the latest milestone to some extent.

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The NCOC forum, which serves as the nerve centre of the country’s unified efforts to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, also issued the countrywide virus tally. According to the data, Sindh topped the list with maximum cases, 571,548, followed by Punjab (503,590), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (217,936), Islamabad (134,797), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (43,163), Balochistan (35,429), and Gilgit Baltistan (11,620).

Moreover, the active cases tally remained below 20,000 mark.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan has been battling multiple diseases – including TB, polio, and dengue – over the years. Moreover, the government had utilised its polio health team in efforts to stem the Covid-19 spread when the virus emerged in the country.

In addition to this, the World Health Organisation has been all praise for the country’s efforts in this regard and many times lauded the efforts of health workers for being “the frontline” in the war against the virus.

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“I am absolutely delighted to be a part of this important scientific & technical workshop on dengue in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. I admire the government of Pakistan for the unified and well-coordinated response to contain the spread of dengue during Covid-19,” WHO Representative in Pakistan Dr Palitha Mahipala during the national sharing workshop on dengue control and response in Pakistan.

In his address, the WHO representative had called for real-time data, empirical evidence along epidemiological surveillance to ensure a robust response plan to control dengue.