Pakistan reports over 1,800 new COVID-19 cases, 36 deaths: Health Ministry

Pakistan reported 1,841 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 36 fatalities during the last 24 hours, taking the total infections in the country to nearly 44,000 with 939 deaths, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

As the coronavirus cases in the national capital Islamabad crossed the 1,000-mark, other parts of Pakistan also continued to witness a surge in the infections.

Till now, 17,241 cases have been detected in Sindh, 15,976 in Punjab, 6,230 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 2,820 in Balochistan, 1,034 in Islamabad, 550 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 115 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

"So far 400,292 tests have been done including 12,957 in the last 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

As the numbers go up, Prime Minister Imran Khan was scheduled to chair a Cabinet meeting to review the COVID-19 situation, especially in the wake of easing the restrictions.

Pakistan has started easing in phases the lockdown and partially resumed its domestic air services.

The health ministry said that a total of 12,489 patients have so far recovered from the virus while the death toll stood at 939 with 36 new lives lost in the last 24 hours.

To add to the woes of the government, leading clerics announced on Monday to resume five-time congregational prayers at mosques across the country.

They said prevailing uncertainty about the end of coronavirus could not stop people from activities of daily life and regular business.

The congregations were banned when the countrywide lockdown was imposed in March to contain the spread of coronavirus.

However, prayers were allowed under strict social distancing with the beginning of Ramzan in April.