Lahore: Polling of NA-133 Lahore by-election has concluded and the counting of votes has begun across the 254 polling stations in the constituency, considered a "stronghold" of the PML-N.

According to details, the polling started at 8am this morning and continued till 5pm without any break after which the gates to the polling stations were closed off to any more voters.

The seat had fallen vacant after the death of PML-N leader Pervaiz Malik who died of heart complications on October 11. His wife, Shaista Pervaiz Malik is the PML-N candidate, whereas the PPP fielded Aslam Gill for the election.

Moreover, ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates Jamshed Iqbal Cheema has been disqualified from contesting the election on technical grounds and his appeal has been earlier rejected by the election tribunal and later by the high court.

Islamabad:  Amid a steady decline in Covid-19 infections, Pakistan's coronavirus positivity ratio further fell to 0.78%, the total death toll reached to 28,777. 

Around 336 fresh coronavirus cases emerged while 10 people succumbed to the disease in last 24 hours amid 'Omicron' threat.

Pakistan’s government will step up COVID-19 vaccination efforts and is expanding the criteria for vaccine booster shots, amid fears of the Omicron variant.

According to the latest figures issued by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 336 persons were tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. 

The total number of cases has reached 1,287,161. 

As many as 1,246,464 patients have recovered from the disease.

Punjab

The number of patients swelled to 443,519 in the province with 13,041 causalities.

Sindh

The number of infections has surged to 476,830 in the province, while the death toll has reached 7,626.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The confirmed cases have surged to 180,383 in the province with 5,862 casualties.

Balochistan

There are 33,507 confirmed cases while 360 patients have died from the infection so far.

AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan

There are 34,579 coronavirus cases in the AJK while the death toll has reached 742. On the other hand, there are 10,413 cases in GB with 186 coronavirus deaths.

Islamabad

There are 107,930 cases in the capital city while 960 people have lost their lives.

Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan will launch Pakistan's largest sports programme, 'Kamyab Jawan Sports Drive’, today, in a bid to revive sports culture for producing national heroes.

According to details, Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the drive at Jinnah Stadium Sports Complex, Islamabad.

In the first phase, the project will provide an opportunity to the talented youth of Pakistan to prepare themselves to display their skills at the international level in 12 sports, including hockey, cricket, football, handball, wrestling, weightlifting, squash, volleyball, skiing, judo, boxing and athletics.

Youth falling in the age group of 11 to 25 years will participate in the sports competitions.

The sports competitions will be held across the country, including Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir and one million youth will go through a process of selection.

Earlier on Sunday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Muhammad Usman Dar said this would be the biggest sports programme in the country’s history that would enable active participation of the youth in healthy physical activities.

He said under its first phase, twelve different games for male and ten for female would be arranged across 25 regions under the talent hunt programme. The age bracket for the both would be 11-25 years.