The number of single-day coronavirus cases in Pakistan has topped the 1,000 mark for the first since July, while active cases have also doubled in one and a half months, according to health authorities.

In a statement on Saturday, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said that 1,078 were reported from across the country on October 29, reports Dawn news.

While the number of new patients dropped to 807 the following day, the health authorities and medical experts expressed concern over the situation and advised the masses to ensure strict compliance to the health guidelines issued by the government.

The NCOC data showed that as many as 1,114 people contracted the virus in the country on July 30.

Since then the number of daily cases remained less than 1,000, with 330 cases reported on August 3 and 213 on Augost 30.

However, the number of new cases again rose to 330 a week later, after which there has been a constant increase in positive cases.

On October 3, 632 new cases were reported.

The number of daily cases jumped to 755 on October 14, 847 on October 23 and 1,078 on October 29.

Similarly, the number of active cases has more than doubled during the past one and a half months, as there were only 5,936 active cases reported on September 15, but the figure jumped to 12,121 on Saturday, Dawn news reported citing the NCOC data as saying.

In view of the deteriorating situation, the NCOC on COVID-19 held a special meeting on Saturday and discussed measures to stem further spread of the virus.

As of Sunday, Pakistan has reported a total of 333,970 cases with 6,823 deaths.

(IANS)