ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday left Italy behind in terms of number of coronavirus cases, becoming the 11th most affected country by the viral disease.

The National Command Operation Center (NCOC) has reported that 2,751 new cases surfaced during the last twenty-four hours taking the tally to 243,599. On the flip side, as per the John Hopkins University, the number of COVID-19 cases reported till date in Italy stands at 242,363.

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There has been improvement in the number of recoveries from Covid-19 in Pakistan though with figure now reaching 149, 092.

The fresh cases reported in the country include 85,261 in Punjab, 100,900 in Sindh, 29,406 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 11,099 in Balochistan, 13,829 in Islamabad, 1,619 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 1,485 in Azad Kashmir. 

The death toll from the virus has reached 5,058 with 75 more deaths reported over the last twenty-four hours.

23,255 corona tests were carried out during this period.

On July 9, renowned scientist and Chairman of Prime Minister’s task force on Science and Technology, Dr Atta-ur-Rahman had said Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) needed to take emergency measures regarding approval of conducting clinical trials of an internationally recognized vaccine for COVID-19 in Pakistan.

“The application for conducting clinical trials of this vaccine produced by a well acclaimed international company was submitted to DRAP for approval. The clinical trials of that vaccine have been done internationally”, Dr Atta ur Rahman had said in an interview with state news agency.

He had said, “We were in contact with several international companies for vaccine production after which one of the major international companies agreed to conduct clinical trials of their vaccination in Pakistan”.