694 New Cases in Pakistan, is the second wave here?
694 New cases on saturday
Pakistan reported 694 new cases on 26th September 2020 with a positivity rate of 1.9%; however, only 280 patients were recovered. 6 deaths were also reported.
Most numbers of the cases were reported from Sindh and Sindh is also leading with new cases from the last 3 months among the 7 regions. Punjab represents 50% of the population of Pakistan; interestingly Punjab positivity rate is below 2%. The worrying signs can be seen in Balochistan where the positivity percentage is close to 10% over the past couple of weeks on average. Cases in Islamabad have already spiked up to 40+ daily cases which were once below 30. The positivity rate in Islamabad is still below the national figures.
Testing has Increased significantly
Testing in Pakistan has significantly increased since the start of September, only 20k tests were conducted on 1st September, which increased to 42k on 23rd September. With the increase in tests; the number of cases also started to increase. The promising fact is that the positivity rate in Pakistan has remained below 2% since Eid ul Adha on average.
The reason behind the increase in tests is because of the following reasons:
- Opening of educational institutes all over the country. Thousands of teachers, staff, and students have been tested for COVID-19.
- Resumption of multiple flights from countries like Saudi Arabia. The international travel between Pakistan and Arab countries have played a part in the increase of testing.
is the second wave in Pakistan here?
The answer to this question is NO, but we cannot also deny the threat of the second wave which might start anytime soon. We have seen second waves in many European countries including Spain; However, in Pakistan, things are pretty much under control.
I would like to support my reasoning with the following graph which shows the positivity rate in Pakistan. The positivity rate is the percentage of positive tests out of total tests. I would like to share the positivity rate for the last 4 months:
- June: 18.9% Positive Tests
- July: 9.4% Positive Tests
- August: 2.8% Positive Tests
- September: 1.8% Positive Tests
The fight isn’t over yet for Pakistan, Social Distancing and compliance of SOPs is a must for citizens of Pakistan so that the cases remain low and Pakistan can combat the CoronaVirus entirely. For daily updates follow the below link.
Also Read About: HIGHEST COVID-19 TESTS ON A SINGLE DAY IN PAKISTAN