Coronavirus claims four lives in last 24 hour 

Islamabad: The coronavirus (COVID-19) has claimed four more lives in Pakistan during the past 24 hours, lifting the death toll to 28,882.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 270 more people were infected with the coronavirus as the number of confirmed positive cases surged to 1,291,737.

A total of 42,506 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, out of which 270 persons were tested positive, showing an infection rate of 0.63 as compared to yesterday’s 0.83 per cent.

At present, 643 critical patients have been admitted to hospitals across the country.

Punjab remains the worst-hit province in terms of deaths followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Till now 13,059 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab, 7,654 in Sindh 5,911 in KP, 964 in Islamabad, 745 in Azad Kashmir, 363 in Balochistan, and 186 in GB.

Furthermore 479,481 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 444,267 in Punjab, 181,023 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 108,308 in Islamabad, 34,642 in Azad Kashmir, 33,587 in Balochistan and 10,429 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Earlier on December 17, Pakistan had reported a second case of Omicron variant in Karachi and suspected patient fled from the quarantine. 

According to the sources in Sindh Health Department, the 35-year-old infected individual travelled to Karachi from UK and first tested positive for coronavirus in random checking.

The sources also said that the Omicron infection was confirmed in the affected person later through genome sequencing and the infected person fled from the quarantine centre after being shifted to a private hotel on Shahrae Faisal from the airport.

It was also reported that 19 people are currently quarantined at the hotel, but the authorities concerned haven't provided security as yet. It added that 38 people have managed to flee quarantine due to the absence of security. 

Meanwhile, the home department, police and relevant deputy commissioner are responsible for providing security at the quarantine centres.

The provincial Health Department sources further maintained that Pakistan has restricted travel to and from countries falling under Category C and those affected by the Omicron outbreak. However, Britain doesn't fall under Category C.