Claim: Pakistan did not record the highest Covid-19 cases compared to the last 5 weeks.
Fact: Pakistan did indeed report the highest Covid cases on 17 September compared to the last 5 weeks.
On September 18, Omar R Quraishi, a prominent Pakistani journalist with a verified Twitter account, tweeted that Pakistan reported the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases on September 17, compared to the past 5 weeks. Multiple users replied to his tweet, doubting the numbers, either asking for proof or labelling the journalist as dishonest and claiming he is spreading negativity.
Soch Fact Check found Qureshi’s claim to be true. On 17 September, the Government of Pakistan reported 752 reported cases on it’s official website.
Newsweek, the Nation and Coronatracker all reported the same number. Some attribute the increase in the number of cases to the record number of daily testing which was at 33,865; while others attribute it to the recent opening of educational institutions all over Pakistan.
Looking back at the history of covid cases, Soch found that the last time Pakistan had over 752 new Covid cases in a day was on 13 August as reported by Pakistan Government on their official website and Newsweek Pakistan on their daily covid cases update tweet.
Summary: On September 17, the Pakistani government reported the highest daily increase in Covid-19 cases since August 13.
Research Associate: Ammar Zardari