At least nine people died because of the coronavirus over the last 24 hours, the National Institute of Health said on Wednesday, as the government urged people to follow Covid protocol in Muharram.

“As many as 20,949 tests were conducted in a single day. At least 806 positive cases and nine deaths were reported,” it said in a tweet. “The Covid positivity ratio stood at 3.85% and 160 patients were on critical care.”

A slight increase was seen in Pakistan’s Covid statistics over the last two months, with big cities contributing to the tally the most. The government ahead of Muharram had urged people to follow the standard operating procedures and get vaccinated in order to stem the contagion spread.

“New waves of the virus demonstrate again that Covid-19 is nowhere near over. As the virus pushes at us, we must push back,” World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said while addressing a press conference on July 13.

He expressed his concerns as coronavirus case numbers were shooting up, putting more strain on health systems and workers. The WHO, 10 days after the update, announced that the monkeypox – a rare disease caused by the monkeypox virus, originating from the same family as smallpox – outbreak represented a global health emergency.

Wednesday’s Covid update from the NIH was the highest since July 16 when Pakistan reported 10 deaths in a single day.

Medical experts have stressed the need for having Covid tests if people are having virus-related symptoms in order to break the chain. They have called for wearing masks when having symptoms, like high fever, loss of taste or smell, difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, loss of speech or mobility, confusion, and chest pain.

“The coronavirus tests, including polymerase chain reaction and rapid antigen, are a must to ascertain whether a person is suffering from a common cold or the contagion,” said Dr Sadia Khalid, the consulting physician told Aaj News on July 8

“Even if you are having fever or minor flu-like symptoms, we ask people to isolate themselves,” Dr Sadia, who completed her MBBS from the Rawalpindi Medical College, had said on the morning show.

She had recommended five days of isolation for a person infected with the Omicron variant of the virus, as per the WHO guidelines, and a rapid antigen test after five days.