Islamabad, Jul 20 (IANS): Pakistan is facing new challenges in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic as the positivity rate in some areas of the country has passed 20 per cent, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Tuesday.

Amid rising cases of the Delta variant, the country confirmed 2,145 new Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours, Xinhua news agency quoted the NCOC, the department leading Pakistan's campaign against the pandemic, as saying.

The NCOC said in a statement that the country's number of overall cases rose to 993,872 amidst the fear of a fourth wave, reports Xinhua news agency.

The NCOC said that Sindh has been the worst hit, with a total of 358,176 cases, followed by eastern Punjab province where the disease was detected in 351,000 people.

A total of 22,848 people died of the disease nationwide, including 37 patients who died over the last 24 hours, the NCOC said, adding that 2,697 are in critical condition.

The country currently has 49,929 active cases while 921,095 others have recovered from the disease.