Pakistan records highest number of coronavirus deaths in a day

Islamabad, Pakistan- Pakistan has seen its highest rise in deaths in a single day from the coronavirus, with 17 new cases taking the country's death toll from the highly contagious virus to at least 192, according to government data.
Monday also saw the highest single-day rise in cases in Pakistan, with 705 confirmed cases taking the country's tally to 9,214, according to the data.

The country has been easing its lockdown in order to stave off an economic crisis from stagnating growth.

So far, at least 2,053 patients have recovered from COVID-19 in the country, leaving the active case tally at 6,969.

The increase in cases has occurred in conjunction with a modest increase in testing capacity, as the government aims to ramp up to 25,000 tests a day.

Pakistan has conducted 111,806 tests, or 0.53 tests per thousand people.

The government appears to be far off its target, however, with only 5,347 tests conducted on Monday, as per government data.

After an initial outbreak sparked mainly by cases of travellers from neighbouring Iran and other countries, Pakistan has seen a spike in local transmission of the virus, which accounted for 65 percent of all cases as of this week, the country's de facto Health Minister Zafar Mirza told reporters.

Mirza also said the government was working on setting up a platform to allow Pakistani doctors in the global diaspora to return to the country and help efforts to fight the coronavirus.

On Sunday, doctors' unions across the country formed the Grand National Health Alliance in protest against what they say is a lack of proper personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and other steps to keep doctors safe from the virus.

The move came days after young doctors protesting the lack of PPE kits clashed with police outside a main government building in the eastern city of Lahore. A group of protesters is holding a hunger strike at that protest site, demanding better protection for healthcare workers.