ISLAMABAD — The spread of the novel coronavirus has lately been showing a downward trend in Pakistan, which is the main reason for a marked drop in daily testing, a top government official said on Monday. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended Pakistan increase daily testing to above 50,000, but after peaking at 31,000 tests exactly a month ago, the South Asian nation tested less than 20,000 people on Sunday. "The downward trend of the epidemic is the primary reason for the reduced demand in tests." Pakistan has registered 265,082 infections and 5,599 deaths. On Sunday, 31 deaths were reported.

Source: International New York Times July 20, 2020 15:56 UTC