ISLAMABAD: Pakistan continues to witness downward trend of COVID-19 cases, as the country has reported 1,021 new cases of the pandemic over the past 24 hours, according to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

The nerve centre of the country’s COVID-19 response said 21 more people succumbed to the viral disease during this period, lifting the death toll to  28,173.

A total of 43,578 samples were tested, out of which 1,021 turned out to be positive for the virus, taking the nationwide tally of confirmed cases to 1,260,669. The infection rate witnessed a surge and was recorded at 2.34 per cent as compared to yesterday’s 1.62%.

There are a total 2,257 critical patients in hospitals across the country, the NCOC said, adding that overall 1,191,425 people have regained their health from the COVID-19.