89 new cases of coronavirus, 2 deaths in Punjab

LAHORE: A complete lockdown has started taking effect in certain localities in the provincial capital following the emergence of considerable new Covid-19 cases. As many as 89 new cases of coronavirus and two deaths have been confirmed in different districts in the province.

With the emergence of over two dozen cases in one day in Lahore, the district administration got into action and sealed 13 localities in the provincial metropolis for fear of local transmission of coronavirus. The sealed localities included Raiwind City, Sikandria Colony, Makhanpura, Small Industries Housing Society Defence B, Begum Kot, Shahdara, Rustam Park, Samanabad, various areas of Gulshan-e-Ravi, Railway Colony, Mughalpura, Rehman Pura, Chah Miran, China Scheme, Gujarpura, Gohawa Village, Bedian Road and portions of Cantonment and Defence Housing Authority after the emergence of a large number of cases.

Deputy Commissioner Danish Afzaal confirmed restricting unnecessary movement in these potential hotspots after reporting of 66 Covid-19 patients in the last few days. He said the process of screening 574 suspected patients in these localities has been initiated. “The violation of Section 144 shall not be tolerated,” he said, adding that these localities would remain fully or partially sealed till clearance.

Meanwhile, a confirmed Covid-19 patient from Lahore suddenly disappeared, but later appeared in Mianwali, which raised alarm among healthcare managers in the province. Sal Rehman, a security guard at a private school in Gulberg, was in close contact with his two nephews under treatment at the Mayo Hospital. A health team took his swab sample and the test result confirmed him Covid-19 positive. When they contacted him again, he was in Mianwali. The team advised him to report in a nearby hospital immediately. Rehman approached the Emergency of the Mianwali Hospital and complained about diarrhea rather than being a Covid-19 patient and a potential coronavirus carrier. On a later stage, however, he informed the duty doctor about the call from the Mayo Hospital about his Covid-19 positive test, which panicked the duty doctors and other staff as they confirmed the patient’s positive test from the Mayo Hospital. The MS, accordingly, isolated the doctors and related medical staff and informed the CEO Health Mianwali about the exposure of doctors and their coming into contact with the potential coronavirus carrier.

Meanwhile, as many as 89 new Covid-19 patients were reported from across the province on Saturday, taking the number of confirmed cases to 2425.

Late night, Chief Minister in a tweet confirmed that the provincial tally of coronavirus positive cases rose to 2,425.

According to an earlier report out of the 2410 patients, 747 are preachers of Tableeghi Jamaat, 701 pilgrims who recently returned from Iran, 80 prisoners and 882 citizens who either had travel history or fell victim to local transmission.

So far 21 patients have died in the province and 39 have defeated the dreaded virus. As many as eight patients were discharged from the Mayo Hospital on Saturday after recovery.

Two children including a 10-year-old boy and a 15-month-old girl were discharged from the Children’s Hospital after recovering from Covid-19. Both the kids remained at the Isolation Ward for 10 days.

Of the 747 confirmed Covid-19 preachers, 462 are at a quarantine centre at Raiwind, 47 in Bhakar, 35 each in Hafizabad, Sargodha and Jhelum, 25 in Vehari, 19 in Sialkot, 16 in Layyah, 13 in Mandi Bahauddin, 10 in Gujrat, nine in Bahawalnagar, eight in Sheikhupura, seven in Mianwali, six each in Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, four in Rahim Yar Khan, three in Narowal, two each in Nankana Sahib, Gujranwala and Khushab and one in Rajanpur.

As many as 10,263 preachers who have recently attended Tableeghi Ijtema are at quarantine centres in 33 districts for testing and isolation. Out of 701 confirmed patients from amongst pilgrims, 457 are at a quarantine centre in Multan, 221 in Dera Ghazi Khan and 23 in Faisalabad.

So far 882 citizens have been tested positive for the virus across the province. These people either have a travel history or they got infected through local transmission.

The highest number of cases has been reported from Lahore where 396 patients are under treatment at different centres, while as many as 129 patients are under treatment in Gujrat, 64 in Rawalpindi, 38 in Gujranwala, 29 in Jhelum, 28 in Faisalabad, 27 in Sialkot, 22 in Rahim Yar Khan, 18 in DG Khan, 16 in Nankana Sahib, 13 in Vehari, 12 in Hafizabad, 10 each in Mianwali and Sheikhupura, nine in Kasur, eight each in Sargodha, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal and Chiniot, five each in Bahawalnagar and Bahawalpur, four each in Chakwal and Multan, three each in Khushab and Lodhran, two in Toba Tek Singh and one each in Attock, Layyah, Okara and Jhang.

The Punjab Health Department has forwarded SOPs for handling of Covid-19 patients and saving other prisoners in jails to the Home Department.

The Primary and Secondary Healthcare (P&SH) Department spokesperson informed that so far 31,535 suspected patients have been tested for coronavirus. Out of these, he said, 2,410 were tested positive.

He said all patients were being taken care of at quarantine centres and isolation wards at public sector hospitals, while serious patients were being treated in High Dependency Units (HDUs). He urged people to stay at home, frequently wash hands and use hand sanitizer. He advised social distancing and adopting precautionary measures while attending sick family members.