KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) – Pakistan’s daily coronavirus tally continued to fall, as the country recorded only 1,579 new cases over the past 24 hours, the lowest single-day sum since May, Health Ministry data said Sunday.

With the new cases, the total number of infections reached 263,496, with 1,763 of them in critical condition, the data showed.

Another 46 patients lost their battle against the disease across the country in the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 5,568. Nearly 70% of patients, or 204,276, have recovered so far.

Health experts, however, cautioned that a sharp fall in the number of COVID-19 cases could be the result of fewer tests. Neighboring India, hardest hit by the virus in the region, is currently doing 15 times more tests daily than Pakistan.

Islamabad is currently following a strategy of locality-based lockdown in scores of hotspots in some 20 big cities in an attempt to stem the virus’ spread.

According to official statistics, the country has so far done over 1.7 million tests for the virus. (Aamir Latif)