COVID-19 cases in Pakistan near 15,000; death toll 327

PAKISTAN's coronavirus cases have climbed to 14,885 while the death toll from the pandemic has reached 327 with 26 more fatalities, the health ministry said on Wednesday (29).

Punjab became the second province after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to record 100 deaths from COVID-19

According to the health ministry 3,425 people have recovered from the contagion while 129 were still in critical condition.

The ministry said that Punjab has reported 5,827, Sindh 5,291, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 2,160, Balochistan 915, Gilgit-Baltistan 330, Islamabad 297 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 65 cases.

So far 165,911 tests have been conducted, including 8,530 on April 28.  Meanwhile, an important Hindu member of the Sindh provincial Assembly Rana Hameer Singh became the latest politician to test positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday (28), a day after Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said he had contracted the disease, according to Tharparkar Deputy Commissioner Shahzad Tahir.

Singh belongs to Tharparkar district bordering India's Rajasthan state. He was elected in the 2018 general  elections from the platform of the Pakistan Peoples Party.

Sindh has banned all religious gatherings during the holy month of Ramzan in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The COVID-19 outbreak in Pakistan began in late February. As per reports cases have been spiking since last week. Recently, the country relaxed coronavirus restrictions for some key industries.

In recent weeks, the government has built several makeshift hospitals, with a capacity of thousands.