ISLAMABAD, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's COVID-19 fatalities crossed the 10,000-mark in the past 24 hours after 55 more patients were reported to have died from the coronavirus epidemic, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Wednesday.

A man wearing a face mask rides a motorbike in Rawalpindi, Pakistan on Oct. 5, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)

Most deaths occurred in the Punjab province followed by Sindh, said the center which monitors and devises plans to curb the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

The NCOC said that 2,155 people tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, with the national positivity ratio recorded at 5.92 percent.

Pakistan has reported a total of 477,240 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 430,113 recoveries and 10,047 deaths. Currently, 2,219 patients are in critical condition and the number is rising fast, the NCOC said.

The health ministry of the Sindh province said on Tuesday that the new COVID-19 strain spreading in Britain has been detected in two quarantined passengers returned from Britain.

However, the NCOC said that the virus detected in the arrivals from Britain are still being analyzed in selected laboratories, adding that three people may have been infected based on preliminary analysis, but the final results have yet to be confirmed with further analysis, which will take a few more days to complete.

The NCOC said that in order to bar the new, more transmissible coronavirus variant from entering Pakistan, the government has taken stricter control meansures including restricting travel from Britain.