Pakistan saw its deadliest day for new cases and number of deaths since the emergence of Coronavirus during late February, as the country reported 806 new Coronavirus positive cases and 26 deaths due to Coronavirus related complications during past 24 hours.
As per official data, issued by NCOC, total number of new cases reached 14,885 as Sindh reported 335 new cases, while Punjab recorded 187, KP 176, Islamabad 36, GB 10 and Balochistan 62 new cases during the last 24 hours.
Just to be mentioned, Islamabad and KP saw their highest daily jump in new cases since the beginning of the outbreak.
Deaths also reached its highest daily number yet with 10 fatalities from KP, 9 from Punjab and another 7 from Sindh.
Of new 26 deaths, 20 patients were on ventilator; said the official data.
Number of patients in hospital reached 3,687, up from 3,556 a day ago — of those 3,558 patients are in stable condition. 85 patients are said to be in critical condition, but are not on ventilator while an..
Category: Press Releases
Coronavirus: Pakistan Sets A Grim New Record With 26 Deaths In 24 Hours
On its deadliest pandemic day yet, Pakistan’s coronavirus death toll rose by a record 26 cases overnight to 327. Of the new fatalities, 10 were reported in KP, 9 in Punjab, while 7 people died in Sindh.
This is the second consecutive day that Pakistan has registered record single-day deaths as on Tuesday too, the country reported its highest jump of 20 new deaths.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, state health minister Zafar Mirza said that with the day’s exception, the overall daily death rate due to Covid-19 had remained on the same level in the country which ‘is a good thing’.
He also announced that the government was charting out a national plan for safety and protection of frontline healthcare workers during the Covid-19 fight, which would be announced in a few days. He reiterated the importance of social distancing and other safety measures to curb the virus’ spread.
Globally, over 3 million people have been infected by the virus, out of which 1 million are now in th..
Govt Signs $15 Million Loan Agreement With ADB
The Government of Pakistan and the Asian Development Bank have signed a concessional loan agreement of $15 million for Punjab urban development projects.
This concessional loan is a Project Readiness Financing Facility for engineering and designing urban development projects in seven (7) major cities across Punjab, as identified by the provincial government. Dr. Syed Pervaiz Abbasi, Secretary, Economic Affairs Division (EAD) signed the Loan Agreement with Xiaohong Yang, Country Director, ADB.
The Local Government & Community Development Department, Government of Punjab is the executing agency for the project. The PRF is expected to be completed by 31st October 2022.
The PRF shall prepare readiness for ensuing projects across seven major cities in Punjab province, which are: Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar Khan, Rawalpindi, and Sargodha.
The activities under the PRF include:
Preparation of Spatial Land Use Plans; Updating surveys and studies, and invest..
Zameen’s Parent group EMPG and OLX Group Merge Businesses in MENA and South Asia
Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) — the parent group of Zameen.com with operations in GCC, Pakistan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Morocco and Tunisia — and OLX Group, Prosus’s global classifieds business, have announced their merger in Pakistan, Egypt, Lebanon and the UAE.
The agreement includes a US $150 million investment round, led by OLX Group along with existing EMPG shareholders, which values EMPG at US $1 billion after the transaction.
As part of the deal, OLX Group will contribute its operations in the four countries into EMPG and will become EMPG’s largest single shareholder, owning 39% of the company.
EMPG will use the new capital to develop a range of new services, creating a more seamless user experience, enhancing data transparency, and deepening market intelligence for both consumers and business users.
In Pakistan both the groups will continue to operate through their well-known local brands, however, for Egypt and Lebanon EMPG will operate the existing OLX platforms, ..
Pentagon Fnally Releases Videos Evidence of Alien Objects Seen by US Navy [Video]
Pentagon has formally released 3 short videos comprising unidentified aerial phenomena that had been leaked by a private company between December 2017 and March 2018.
According to Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough, Pentagon is officially releasing the videos to clear up misconceptions among the general public on whether the videos are real or not. One video was recorded in 2004 while the other two were recorded in 2015.
After a thorough review, the Pentagon has determined that the authorized release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems. It also does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena.
In September 2019, the US Navy acknowledged the authenticity of the videos released by To The Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences.
Here are the videos recently corroborated by the Pentagon:
From 2004 From 2015 In the video from 2004, F-18 Super Hornet’s sensors lock on an unidentified ..
Newly Discovered Bat Species Will Help Understand The Coronavirus
In a study published on Wednesday in a special issue of the journal ZooKeys on the coronavirus; it was announced that four new species of African leaf-nosed bats have been found and they are related to the bats that are the host for COVID-19 –horseshoe bats.
It is crucial to identify all the species of bats as it will help in our understanding of diseases like COVID-19. While the main focus has been on how they spread diseases but the bats also pollinate crops, disperse seeds and eat insects. Sadly, they are still unknown to us and as per experts, humans have only identified 25% of all bat species in the last 15 years.
Bruce Patterson, lead study author and Macarthur curator of mammals at Chicago’s Field Museum said,
Bats are small, nocturnal and use high-frequency sound and smell to identify their species to other bats. Because we are large, diurnal, and reliant on vision (and lower-frequency sounds), we can’t read their signals very precisely. The real diversity of bats has really..
Newly Discovered Bat Species Will Help Understand The Coronavirus
In a study published on Wednesday in a special issue of the journal ZooKeys on the coronavirus; it was announced that four new species of African leaf-nosed bats have been found and they are related to the bats that are the host for COVID-19 –horseshoe bats.
It is crucial to identify all the species of bats as it will help in our understanding of diseases like COVID-19. While the main focus has been on how they spread diseases but the bats also pollinate crops, disperse seeds and eat insects. Sadly, they are still unknown to us and as per experts, humans have only identified 25% of all bat species in the last 15 years.
Bruce Patterson, lead study author and Macarthur curator of mammals at Chicago’s Field Museum said,
Bats are small, nocturnal and use high-frequency sound and smell to identify their species to other bats. Because we are large, diurnal, and reliant on vision (and lower-frequency sounds), we can’t read their signals very precisely. The real diversity of bats has really..
NEPRA Approves 2 50MW Solar Power plants in KP & Sindh
According to reports, two local businesses have been granted licenses by the government to establish solar power plants of up to 100 megawatts at an estimated investment of $100 million.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) approved generation licenses to two solar power plants of 50MW each. They have been given to Artistic Solar Energy (Private) Limited for a plant in Sukkur district worth $45 million and $55 million will be invested by Siddiqsons Kohat Solar Limited for their plant in Kohat district.
NEPRA said that these projects will help utilize untapped renewable energy optimally and increase the share of the pollution-free electricity. In a document, NEPRA said,
There is a global trend of reduction in the prices of PV cells, which results in lower tariffs as is evident from various determinations of the authority. These lower tariffs will result in a reduction of the overall basket price which will be beneficial to the public at large.
NEPRA said that all..
Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore & Peshawar Record Significant Drop in Pollution After Lockdown
The coronavirus pandemic has forced countries to impose stern lockdowns to contain the spread of the disease, bringing economic activities worldwide to an abrupt halt.
While industrial lockdown has brought hardship to all those associated with it, it has also bought the environment enough time to recover to some extent from all the toxicity of the past decades.
Air quality levels across South Asia are the worst in the world, resulting in thousands of premature deaths each year. Last year, Pakistan was ranked the second most polluted country in the world according to World Air Quality Report 2019. While India was ranked fifth, Bangladesh topped the charts for the most polluted country.
In Pakistan, the federal government, after deliberating with provincial governments, enforced a nationwide lockdown after the coronavirus cases started to surge rapidly last month.
Data released by the Center for Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) recently shows that air pollution in m..
KP Launches COVID-19 Pool Testing in Pakistan, Increasing Capacity by 5 Times
According to KP’s Health Minister, Taimur Khan Jhagra, the province is going to start pool testing for COVID-19, increasing its testing capacity by 3 to 5 times.
The pool testing will be carried out at the Khyber Medical University (KMU), the minister said in a press briefing.
KMU, KP’s flagship coronavirus testing lab, has conducted 27 trials of pool testing. The results of the tests were 100% accurate. As a result, KMU is now mandated to perform pool tests.
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Govt is Using ISI to Trace Coronavirus Cases
Pool Testing Pool testing involves taking swab samples from all individuals in a sample population and carrying out a combined test of them using the PCR procedure.
For instance, health officials have to take swab samples from a sample population of 200 individuals and test them for COVID-19.
In individual testing, officials must have to test 200 swab samples individually which consumes a lot of time and resources.
In pool testing, the population can be divided into 40..
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