COVID-19 cases in Pakistan near 8,000

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan

The number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan moved close to 8,000 on Sunday, authorities said.

As many as 514 new cases and 16 more deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, according to the Health Ministry.

With the new numbers, Pakistan's new total is 7,993 people testing positive while 159 having died after contracting the virus.

Some 1,868 patients have also recovered and discharged from hospitals.

A total of 98,522 people have been tested in the country of over 200 million people, with 7,847 tests conducted over the past 24 hours.

Official data shows the recovery ratio at 23.4% while the death rate rising to 2%, slightly high compared to last week's 1.8%.

Lahore, the provincial capital of the northeastern Punjab province, is so far the worst-hit city with over 21.47% cases of the total 7,993, while the southern port city of Karachi ranks the second with 15.86% of the infections.

After originating in China last December, COVID-19 has spread to at least 185 countries and regions. Europe and the U.S. are currently the worst-hit regions.

The pandemic has killed more than 161,300 people, with total infections exceeding 2.34 million, and recoveries crossing 602,700, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Billions of people are under containment to slow the pandemic.