ISLAMABAD, MAY 20 (DNA) – A day after the government decided to open educational institutions, restaurants and tourist destinations, Pakistan recorded a spike in daily Covid-19 cases.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, as many as 4,207 new Covid-19 cases of the coronavirus emerged across the country over the last 24 hours when 51,130 samples were tested.

The positivity ratio of covid-19 infections climbed to 8.22 per cent, the NCOC said. 131 people succumbed to the virus during the same period, pushing the death toll to 19,987. The number of active cases has climbed to 66,282. 4,517 of them are said to be in critical care.

A total of 4,171 people recuperated from the disease during the past 24 hours, taking the total number of people recovering to 804,122. On Wednesday, the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) decided to reopen educational institutions in districts where the Covid-19 positivity ratio is less than 5 per cent. It decided that outdoor dining will be allowed till 11:59 pm and takeaways will be allowed 24/7. Tourism will be allowed to operate under stringent COVID-19 protocols.