Islamabad, Jul 15 (IANS): Asad Umar, Chairman of Pakistan's National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), urged the public to get vaccinated against Covid-19 as soon as possible and comply with guidelines issued by the government in an effort to avoid a devastation caused by the DElta variant.

In a tweet earlier in the day, the chairman said that a rapid inflow of infected patients in hospitals as well as in critical care centres were being reported across the country, reports Xinhua news agency.

According to the NCOC, a total of 2,545 people have tested positive for the disease in the last 24 hours, raising the country's overall caseload to 981,392.

Sindh province has been the worst hit with 351,006 cases, followed by Punjab with 349,111 infections.

A total of 22,689 people have so far succumbed to the disease, the NCOC said, adding that 2,619 patients are currently under treatment in 639 hospitals across the country out of which 2,336 are in critical condition.

The country currently has 42,330 active cases across all provinces whereas 916,373 others recovered from the disease.

The vaccination drive in the country has also picked up its pace with over half a million doses administered to the public on Wednesday, the NCOC said.

Some 17,336,845 people have been partially vaccinated and 4,323,805 others fully vaccinated of the disease in the country, according to the latest official data.