COVID-19 count in Pakistan's Punjab province crosses 50,000

Pakistan's Punjab province has become the first to have reported more than 50,000 cases of coronavirus.

With 2,705 new COVID-19 cases, Punjab province registered a total of 50,087 cases, Dawn reported.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Gh and two of his family members, including daughter and son-in-law, have contracted coronavirus.

Till now, 438 people in the province have succumbed to the disease.

The total death toll from COVID-19 is currently recorded at 2,551 with 88 more virus-related deaths reported in the past 24 hours, ARY news quoted National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) latest data.

According to NCOC, 49,256 cases have been detected in Sindh, 50,087 in Punjab, 16,415 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 7,866 in Balochistan, 7,163 in Islamabad, 574 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and 1,044 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Amid the increasing number of coronavirus cases in Sindh, Kazim Hussain Jatoi has been appointed the new Sindh health secretary. He has replaced Zahid Ali Abbasi for his "careless behaviour", SAMAA reported.

Meanwhile, Lahore has become a coronavirus epicentre. The government might impose a two-week lockdown in the city.

( With inputs from ANI )