Covid positivity rate stays above 10% for sixth straight day

The coronavirus positivity ratio in Pakistan remained above 10% for the sixth consecutive day on Tuesday morning, the National Command and Operation Centre’s (NCOC) data showed.

According to official figures, 6,357 tested positive for Covid after 49,595 tests were conducted across Pakistan in the last 24 hours.

With the detection of new cases, the overall positivity has jumped to 1.381 million, while 17 more patients have succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 29,122, the official stats showed.

Pakistan is expected to experience its peak in the first or second week of February.

Cities with COVID infection rates above 10%

Karachi — 40.68%
Muzaffarabad — 29.41%
Peshawar — 23.89%
Hyderabad — 21.53%
Lahore — 15.83%
Rawalpindi — 12.50%

As the fifth wave of the coronavirus surges through the country, due to the highly-transmissible Omicron variant, major cities in Pakistan have seen an uptick in test positive ratio, which is the percentage of tests that came back positive for COVID-19 out of the total conducted.

In 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised governments that before reopening, rates of positivity should remain at 5% or below for at least 14 days. The Pakistan government has also directed curbs in cities which report positivity rates over 10%.