True number of COVID-19 cases in Pakistan likely to be much higher: UK government

British government on Sunday claimed that the actual number of COVID-19 cases in Pakistan is likely to be much higher than the reported cases in the country.

Pakistani media, Geo News citing a 'leaked letter' from the UK government informed that country's testing and sequencing rates are relatively low (1.8 per 1,000 over the last seven days) and lower testing and sequencing mean it is not possible to know the full genomic makeup of their current wave.

"The national testing rate varies considerably across regions. For example, in Punjab -- Pakistan's most densely populated region -- with the highest number of active cases, testing is below Pakistan's average rate and is the second-lowest in the country," Britain's Health Minister Lord James Nicolas Bethell informed UK's Member of Parliament Yasmin Qureshi.

Following these allegations, the UK government has also decided to keep Pakistan in the travel ban 'Red List'.

Earlier on August 12, a Pakistan Minister had accused the UK government of playing discriminatory politics against Islamabad following UK's recent decision to move India to the 'amber list' while keeping a ban on flights from Pakistan.

But the UK Department of Health and Social Care had said that its decision was made on the basis of an assessment of the risk to public health.

The daily Covid-19 fatalities in Pakistan exceeded a 100 for the second time in August on Saturday. The country's positivity rate now stands at 6.83 per cent.The country last reported more than 100 deaths on August 12, 2021, according to The News International.

According to the latest statistics of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Pakistan reported 120 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide death toll from the virus to 25,535. As many as 4,191 people tested positive for the virus after 61,446 COVID-19 tests were taken, as per the NCOC's data.

( With inputs from ANI )