Over 15,000 children aged between one and 20 years have been infected by coronavirus across Pakistan in April alone, as the country is battling with a staggering third wave of the pandemic, the Health Ministry said on Saturday.

Of them, the ministry said, 19 children have lost their lives due to the virus, six of them between one and 10 years of age.

Out of over 15,000 cases reported among children in April, nearly 3,000 are between one and 10 years, while the remaining are between 11 and 20 years of age.

A total of over 93,000 children from the same age groups have so far been infected across the country since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, according to the Health Ministry.

Meanwhile, the government has banned all the processions on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Islam’s fourth Caliph Ali, falling on Tuesday, due to the rising numbers of the virus cases.

However, small gatherings will be allowed with safety protocols.

The South Asian country recorded another 4,696 new infections on Saturday, taking the total caseload to 825,519. The death toll rose by 146 on Saturday to 17,957.


Some 717,009 people have so far been recovered, while the total number of active cases in the country is 90,553.

The country of over 210 million population has so far inoculated slightly over 2 million people./aa