ISLAMABAD : The coronavirus claimed 34 more lives as another 1,599 people tested positive for the deadly disease during the past 24 hours across Pakistan.

According to the latest update released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 1,599 new infections surfaced after 42,455 samples were tested during this period. The positivity ratio of Covid-19 cases was recorded at 3.76 per cent.

Since the first Covid-19 case was detected in the country almost a year back, Sindh has reported a total of 246,437 infections, Punjab 157,353, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 66,953, Balochistan 18,815, Islamabad 41,359, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 8,988, and Gilgit Baltistan 4,908.

Earlier, Federal Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said that Pakistan will likely get 17 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine by March.

Turning to social media via his official Twitter handle, the federal minister announced, “Good news on covid vaccine front.” He added that Pakistan received a response letter from Covax which indicated “supply of up to 17 million doses of AstraZeneca in 1st half 2021”.