Corona confirmed cases jump to 11,736

ISLAMABAD: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 11,736 on Friday after new infections were confirmed.

Out of 11,569 confirmed cases, Sindh reported 3,945 cases, Punjab 4,851, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1,541, Balochistan 656, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) 214, Gilgit-Baltistan 307, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) 55 till 12:17am.

The death toll rose to 244, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reporting 83 deaths, Sindh75, Balochistan 10, Gilgit-Baltistan 3, Punjab 68, and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) 3. Meanwhile, the local transmission of Covid-19 is on the rise currently as at least, 4,851 people have already contracted the virus in Punjab including 943 victims in Lahore alone — the provincial capital.

Majority of the infected people in the province have contracted the virus locally, although some of them have a travel history also. Lately, the infections have increased rapidly despite a partial lockdown in the country. According to medical experts, the infections might explode with increased social intermingling after relaxation in lockdown and easing of restrictions in mosques during Ramazan. Social distancing, emphasise the medical experts, is the key to prevention from coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the death of three more Covid-19 patients in Rawalpindi on Friday raised death toll to 68, while confirmed cases of novel coronavirus reached 4,851 with the addition of 84 new cases in the province.

Out of total 68 causalities, 32 have occurred in Lahore, 20 in Rawalpindi, five in Multan, three in Gujrat, two each in Faisalabad and Rahim Yar Khan and one each in Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Attack and Toba Tek Singh.

Out of total confirmed Covid-19 patients, 1,915 are members of Tablighi Jamaat, 768 pilgrims returning from Iran, 86 prisoners in nine districts and 2,082 citizens who either have travel history or fell victim to local transmission.

Of the 1,915 confirmed Covid-19 Tablighi Jamaat members, 815 were reported from Raiwind Markaz, 145 Sargodha, 126 Multan, 98 Lodhran, 67 Bhakkar, 61 Muzaffargarh, 56 Rahim Yar Khan, 54 Jhelum, 46 Vehari, 42 Bahawalpur, 38 Layyah, 35 Hafizabad, 33 Mandi Bahauddin, 32 Khushab, 30 Rawalpindi, 28 Nankana Sahib, 27 Bahawalnagar, 26 Narowal, 22 Sialkot, 21 each Gujranwala and Rajanpur, 18 Faisalabad, 16 Attock, 13 Pakpattan, 12 Sheikhupura, 10 Gujrat, eight Sahiwal, seven Narowal, six Khanewal and two Okara.

Out of 768 confirmed patients from amongst pilgrims, 457 were reported from Multan, 221 Dera Ghazi Khan, 42 Gujranwala, 25 Sargodha and 23 Faisalabad.

As many as 197 patients from common citizens have been reported from Rawalpindi, 169 Gujrat, 117 Gujranwala, 90 Sialkot, 62 Rahim Yar Khan, 55 Kasur, 52 Faisalabad, 49 Vehari, 47 Multan, 38 Jhang, 37 Jhelum, 33 Sargodha, 22 DG Khan, 19 Sheikhupura, 15 Attock, 14 Narowal, 13 Mianwali, 12 each Bahawalpur, Hafizabad and Mandi Bahauddin, 11 Chiniot, 10 Muzaffargarh, nine Khushab, eight Bahawalnagar, seven Toba Tek Singh, six Khanewal, five Bhakkar, four each Chakwal and Pakpattan, three each Okara and Lodhran, two Layyah and two Nankana Sahib.

Out of 86 Covid-19 patients in jails, 59 were reported in Lahore, nine DG Khan, seven Gujranwala, three each Sialkot and Jhelum, two Bhakkar and one each in Faisalabad, Kasur and Hafizabad jails.

Seven more prisoners at Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) managed quarantine centre at Camp Jail recovered from the virus on Friday and were shifted back to their cells. So far 55 out of 59 prisoners at Camp Jail have recovered.

A spokesperson for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) said on Friday that a total of 67,882 tests had been conducted so far in the province. He said that 925 patients had recovered and sent to their homes. He said that 20 serious patients are under treatment at High Dependency Units.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, while felicitating the nation on the blessed month of Ramazan, urged people to offer their prayers at their homes.

In Multan, seven corona suspects died at Nishtar Hospital on Wednesday and Thursday. Doctors told The News on Friday that the blood screening reports, received on Friday, confirmed that three of them were Covid-19 positive.

The reports were received 24 hours after their death. They died at Nishtar Hospital isolation ward and those testing negative were identified as Irum Babar, 22, of Multan, Qalab Ali, 55, of Jhang, Azad Gull, 65, of Multan, and Rashid Ahmed, 50, of Multan.

Those testing Covid-19 positive and dying at hospital were Nizam Shah, 66, of Rajanpur, Muhammad Aslam, 50, of Khanewal and Hajran Bibi, 70, of Multan.

Doctors said it was for sure that the family members and relatives would have touched the bodies without knowing that the deceased were coronavirus carriers.

Meanwhile, the blood screening reports of 12 people returning from Sharjah had tested coronavirus positive. They returned to country a couple of days ago via flight No G9-588. The blood samples of 113 passengers were sent for screening, and out of them, 12 tested positive. They were identified as M Nawaz, M Ijaz, Sain Buksh, Sabzal, M Akram, Bango Khan, Nazo Khatoon, Naziran Bibi, Amanullah, Khalifa Khan, Deen Mohammad and Taj Bibi.

Meanwhile, 11 corona positive patients including a doctor were discharged from Nishtar Hospital after their successful treatment. The discharged people were: Dr Imran, Naseem Rian Bushra, Gulzar, Ajmal, Ibrar Hussain, Saba Bibi, Imran Majeed, Arsalan, Muhammad Ramzan, Ashfaq Ahmed and Javed Masih.

In Kasur, two more including a heart specialist and a supervisor of a quarantine centre were tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday. It raised the total number of affected people to 58 in Kasur district, health chief executive officer and medical superintendent of DHQ Hospital confirmed to The News on Friday.

Dr AV Anjum of DHQ Hospital and supervisor district public school quarantine centre Kashif Shah were diagnosed positive and were shifted to the isolation ward. The health teams, according to chief executive officer, Dr Nazir Ahmed, also collected samples of the family members of the affected persons.

Earlier, the administrator of District Public School Jahangir Chopra contracted coronavirus and was quarantined at the DHQ Hospital. Total number of corona affected, so far, was 58 with 41 in a single locality of Allahabad in Chunian tehsil of Kasur district.

Majority of the Covid-19 patients are young persons, in the age group of six months to 18 years. Sixty suspects including 28 female and 32 male had been shifted to the DPS quarantine centre in Lahore. They had returned from Saudi Arabia after performing Umrah. The city is still in the grip of fear of coronavirus. However, no safety measure had been taken in accordance with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) in bazaars, on roads, at quarantine centres and the DHQ Hospital.

In Sindh province, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah Friday said out of 274 new cases of coronavirus, 202 belong to Karachi and 71 to other districts. This he disclosed in his video message in which he shared the status of coronavirus with the people of Sindh regularly, said a spokesperson for the CM.

Shah said with the death of two more persons, death toll from the infection had risen to 75, while 49 patients were in critical condition. He added 274 new cases emerged in Sindh on Friday while 2,561 tests were conducted.

“This is the situation against which we are struggling to slow down the spread of the virus so that necessary measures could be taken.” Speaking about the situation in Karachi, he said the cases include 88 in District South, 60 in East, 28 Central, 21 in Malir and six in West.

The number of cases in Karachi has reached 2,285, while District Central has 28 cases, East 553, Malir 255, South 736 and West 277, he said. The chief minister said 42 patients had recovered and sent back to their home.

The number of recovered patients comes to 772 or 20 percent of the total patients, he said. Murad said 3,100 patients, including 1,893 or 61 percent, were under treatment at home, 767 or 24.8 percent at the isolation centers and 440 of 14.2 percent in hospitals.

The chief minister said six different flights had flown back 849 stranded Pakistanis, including 62 crew members and all of them had been tested. Test results showed that 127 were positive, 696 negative and 26 samples were being tested again.

Murad said there were 5,102 members of Tablighi Jamaat and all of them were tested. As a result, 765 of them were diagnosed as positive, while the results of four people were pending. “Treatment of the patients is under way and hopefully they will recover very soon,” he said.

The chief minister said after Karachi, Sukkur had shown spread of local transmission with 14 new cases. The data of other districts is Sukkur 14, Umerkot one, Tando Allahyar one, Sanghar one, Kambar-Shahdadkot one and Badin one case.

Appreciating doctors, the chief minister said they were deemed to be at front line but latter realized that they were our last defense line. “We, ourselves are at the frontline and after being infected with coronavirus we go to the doctors as the last defense line,” he said.

He said being chief executive of the province he had taken difficult decisions in the supreme interest of the people. “I had announced a strict lockdown from 12 noon to 3 pm and decided to advise people to offer Taraveeh at their homes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra Sunday announced that the province will make it mandatory for the residents to wear masks in public. "Wear a mask not just to protect yourself, but to protect others. Even a cloth mask will do," wrote Jhagra, in a statement on Twitter.

He said that research on the use of masks had been conducted and "now we are ready to recommend this to everyone". Jhagra said that the provincial government will make preparations over the next 72 hours after which the "enforcement" phase will begin.

In a related development, the Balochistan health department has reported the death of two patients who died while being treated for COVID-19. The total number of deaths in the province is now 10.

The province has also reported 49 new cases of COVID-19 and two more recoveries. The total number of cases in Balochistan are now 656. The Gilgit-Baltistan health department has reported seven more cases in the region, taking the total number to 307.

One more recovery was also reported, taking the number of recoveries to 213. Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said the federal government was providing all necessary equipment to the doctors and paramedics through the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to fight coronavirus pandemic.

Talking to a local TV channel, he said doctors had their own concerns about the coronavirus pandemic. He said there was no objection to admitting that the virus could be eliminated through a complete lockdown. However, Pakistan could bear consequences of a complete lockdown like China, he said.

“25 per cent of the total population of 220 million in Pakistan is living below the poverty line and a complete lockdown will become a disaster for them. The government can increase the testing capacity through the imposition of a smart lockdown. However, the provincial governments are independent in making their own decisions,” he said.

Meanwhile, a team of Chinese doctors having expertise in treating infectious diseases arrived Pakistan by two special aircraft. The team, headed by Major General Huang Qingzhen, also carried medical supplies and equipment. The team would support Pakistan’s efforts in fighting against COVID-19 for the coming two months, said the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement. Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Nadeem Raza along with senior military officials welcomed the team on arrival.