ISLAMABAD : The coronavirus claimed 74 more lives as another 1,563 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), 1,563 new infections surfaced after 41,285 samples were tested.

Since the first Covid-19 case was detected in the country almost a year back, Sindh has reported a total of 242,793 infections, Punjab 155,214, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 65,953, Balochistan 18,765, Islamabad 40,972, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 8,877, and Gilgit Baltistan 4,903.

Global cases surpass 100 million

Global coronavirus cases surpassed 100 million on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, as countries around the world struggle with new virus variants and vaccine shortfalls.

Almost 1.3% of the world’s population has now been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and more than 2.1 million people have died.

One person has been infected every 7.7 seconds, on average, since the start of the year. Around 668,250 cases have been reported each day over the same period, and the global fatality rate stands at 2.15%.

The worst-affected countries – the United States, India, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom – make up more than half all reported COVID-19 cases but represent 28% of the global population, according to a Reuters analysis.