Pakistan's coronavirus death toll rises to 50

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan reported five more fatalities from coronavirus in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 50, officials said Monday.

According to the Health Ministry, the new deaths were reported in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Sindh provinces.

Meanwhile, the number of infected cases in the country rose to 3,277, following 397 cases reported in past 24 hours.

A total of 257 patients recovered, while 17 are in critical condition.

So far, the northeastern Punjab province reported 1,493 cases, Sindh 881, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 405, southwestern Balochistan 191, northern region of Gilgit Baltistan 210, the capital Islamabad 82 and Azad Jammu and Kashmir confirmed 15 cases of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the virus also spread into the country's jails, housing thousand prisoners, and so far 49 cases confirmed in jails of Punjab province alone.

"We have 1,493 confirmed cases in Punjab, among them 49 are prisoners who are currently under quarantine," Usman Buzdar, chief minister of Punjab, said in a tweet.

Since appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 183 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

The data shows more than 1.2 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the global death toll nearing 70,000, and over almost 263,000 recoveries.