ISLAMABAD: The novel coronavirus has claimed 161 more lives across Pakistan over the previous 24 hours, taking the death toll from the disease to 18,310.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, 3,377 new infections emerged when 37,587 samples were tested during the same period. The positivity rate of new cases was recorded at 8.98%, the NCOC said.

The countrywide tally of confirmed cases currently stands at 837,523 with the addition of 3,377 new cases. Thus far, 733,062 patients have recuperated from the disease with 5,018 in the past 24 hours.

The number of Covid-19 patients in critical care across the country has witnessed a minor drop and currently recorded at 5,326.

Thus far, Punjab has reported 308,529, Sindh 286,521, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 120,590, Islamabad 76,492, Balochistan 22,664, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 17,397 and Gilgit Baltistan 5,330.

Pakistan would start getting the batches of coronavirus vaccines from COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) from this week, said sources on Monday.

Sources prior to the development told that Pakistan is likely to receive 1.2 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine on May 7, its first batch under the GAVI/WHO COVAX vaccine initiative.