29 lose life to corona in 24 hours

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/PESHAWAR: Twenty-nine patients across Pakistan lost their lives to Covid-19 in the last 24 hours taking the countrywide death toll to 435.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) reported majority of deaths accounting for 47% of total deaths in a day.

The KP is already arousing concern for reporting maximum deaths from the disease thus far. Of the 432 people who have died of Coronavirus thus far, 172 are from KP alone.

“We have had maximum deaths in KP, which is a cause for concern,” the PM’s Special Assistant on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza stated in his daily briefing.

He assured that the provincial government was closely monitoring the sudden increase in fatality rate and was analyzing possible factors behind the alarming trend.

Of the 432 deaths in Pakistan to date, 172 have been reported from KP, 122 from Sindh, 115 from Punjab, 16 from Balochistan, 4 from Islamabad, and 3 from GB.

“Of the 32 deaths reported in last 24 hours —which are the highest number of deaths in a day— 47% are from KP, 28% from Punjab, 19% from Sindh, and 6% from Balochistan. Except for one patient who expired at home, all others were hospital-based deaths. Fourteen of the 32 patients who passed away were on life support,” Dr. Zafar informed.

Pakistan also reported the highest number of confirmed cases in a day on Saturday, with 1,297 people being afflicted by the disease in the last 24 hours, taking the national count to 18,822.

Of the 1,297 confirmed cases, Sindh reported 622, Punjab 393, KP 172, Balochistan 87, Islamabad 22, and Gilgit Baltistan 1. AJK did not report any case.

Of the total confirmed cases of 18,822, Sindh reported 7,102 cases, Punjab 6,854, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2,907, Balochistan 1,172, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) 365, Gilgit-Baltistan 356, and AJK 66.

The SAPM attributed the increase in number of cases to scaling up of testing.

“We have conducted 194,000 tests so far; of these, 9,164 were conducted in the last 24 hours, which are again the highest number of tests in a day,” Dr. Zafar shared, before moving on to presenting a province-wise breakup of tests conducted.

As many as 3,684 tests were performed in Punjab, 3,384 in Punjab, 985 in KP, 495 in Islamabad, 386 in Balochistan, 214 in GB, and 16 in AJK.

He shared that 4,715 patients had fully recovered. As testing facilities improve, each day is predicted to break the previous day’s record of confirmed cases and deaths.

The SAPM reiterated that the government’s smart lockdown policy can only be effective if the public strictly adhered to relevant SOPs posted on the covid.gov.pk website.

Thirteen SOPs have so far been issued by the federal government, and all of them will soon be available in Urdu as well.

Sharing the titles of the SOPs, Dr. Zafar said, there is a 20-point protocol for attending mosques; a special self-isolation at home SOP for people who are apparently healthy but may either have traveled abroad or interacted with people who subsequently developed Coronavirus.

The third SOP is for patients who tested positive but since they manifest mild symptoms, they can self-isolate themselves at home.

The fourth SOP governs disinfection of surfaces and equipment in hospitals, while the fifth offers guidelines for burial in case of death.

Dr. Zafar said, “There is also an SOP governing categorization of hospitals; hospitals treating Covid-19 patients only fall in the red zone, hospitals treating routine patients and no Covid-19 cases fall in the green zone, while the yellow zone comprises hospitals for both Covid-19 and routine patients.”

The 7th SOP focuses on social distancing while the 8th deals with priority testing.

“A strategy for implementation of priority testing SOPs has been shared with the provinces, which have already notified these,” he said.

Other SOPs focus on implementation of social distancing in shops, essential industries, and the construction sector. SOPs have also been developed on clinical management of Covid-19 patients in hospitals. Dr. Zafar said, detailed information on each of the above SOPs will be disseminated to the public, with an appeal to protect themselves in order to protect others.

Meanwhile, at least 26 patients lost their lives and 280 people tested positive for coronavirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the past two days, bringing the total number of fatalities to 172 and confirmed cases to 2,907.

On Thursday alone, 246 people were diagnosed with Covid-19 in KP, the highest number of people who tested positive in a single day for coronavirus since the outbreak of the fatal disease in the country.

With 172 human losses, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is still ahead of other provinces in terms of fatalities.

Of the 246 positive cases reported on Friday, 145 originated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The remaining 101 patients included the passengers who arrived from overseas, including those brought on special flights from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the ones coming from Afghanistan by road via the Torkham border.

Those entering the country from Afghanistan were quarantined in Khyber tribal district.

Meanwhile, the KP Health department finally traced the 15 people who died between April 9 and 23. It confirmed that they had died from Covid-19.

Saturday proved another terrible day as 15 people died of coronavirus and 108 more tested positive for the fatal disease in the province. It is stated to be the highest human loss in a single day form coronavirus in KP since the outbreak of the disease.

The rising number of fatalities in KP has caused worry to the rulers and health managers as they are helpless to contain the spread of the disease.

Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra Friday said, "These 15 deaths were previously suspected cases or unreported cases."

"In KP, we report deaths in any patients reported corona positive as corona related deaths in line with WHO standards; we also do postmortem sampling and will add any suspect cases even when results come after death. This may affect the comparability of data with other provinces," the health minister explained.

"Finally, the district breakdown and heat-map show the intensity of spread of 2,275 cases within the province; where Peshawar remains the area most affected with 931 cases overall. I hope that this continues to show how we try our best to report as transparently as possible," the health minister said.

On Wednesday (April 29), KP reported 153 positive cases of coronavirus and suffered eight human losses as a result of Covid-19.

It is usually quite late when the KP health department releases its daily report of coronavirus cases and human losses.

One reason that delays the report, according to officials, is that the health department carefully collects data from each district and reports deaths as per the WHO criteria.

On Saturday, the first policeman, Mohammad Faheem, in the province died due to complications arising from Covid-19.

In KP, Peshawar is the most affected place by the coronavirus so far. According to the report of the KP Health department, 10 people died alone in Peshawar on Thursday. Of the 15 people who died on Saturday, 10 were from Peshawar.

Of 172 people who have died to-date of coronavirus in KP, 105 lost their lives in Peshawar.

It recorded another 57 positive cases, raising the total number of positive cases to 1,066. Peshawar is followed by Swat with 184 positive cases and 14 deaths. Besides infecting common people, the virus has now started targeting health workers, particularly young doctors.

Mostly trainee medical officers, paramedics, and nursing staff are contracting the virus.

Though the government had suspended outpatients department (OPDs) services in the hospitals and shut private clinics to keep the health workers safe from the highly contagious disease, they are still getting infected form indoor patients mostly brought to the emergency department and then admitted to different units.

In the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), KP's oldest and largest public sector health facility, 24 members of the medical community have tested positive for coronavirus.

According to Mohammad Asim, LRH media manager, 14 doctors, six male nurses, one paramedic staff member and one ward clerk, and two Class-IV employees have been diagnosed with Covid-19 and quarantined.

He said keeping in view the increasing number of hospital staff being infected by the coronavirus, the LRH Hospital Director Dr Khalid Masud has decided to screen all employees of the hospital.

According to sources, LRH Medical Director Dr Suleman Khan has isolated himself after his recent exposure to infected patients in the ICU of the hospital. Presently, 45 patients are admitted to the hospital including 25 who have tested positive for coronavirus.

Meanwhile, in Punjab death of nine more Covid-19 patients on Saturday raised the toll to 115 in the province, while confirmed cases of novel coronavirus reached 6,854 with the addition of 514 new cases.

The 514 new Covid-19 cases are the highest number of new infections in a single day since the pandemic outbreak.

Out of 115 Covid-19 fatalities in Punjab so far, 55 deaths occurred in Lahore, 25 in Rawalpindi, 11 in Multan, five in Gujranwala, four in Faisalabad, three in Gujrat, two each in Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan and one each in Attock, Sargodha, Rajanpur, Sahiwal and Toba Tek Singh.

Out of total confirmed Covid-19 patients, 1,926 are members of Tablighi Jamaat, 768 pilgrims returning from Iran, 86 prisoners in nine districts and 4,075 citizens who either had travel history or fell victim to local transmission.

From amongst common citizens, the highest number of cases has been reported from Lahore, with total infections of 2,154.

As many as 380 patients were reported in Rawalpindi, 237 Gujrat, 184 Sialkot, 176 Gujranwala, 117 Faisalabad, 83 Multan, 71 each Rahim Yar Khan and Sargodha, 61 Kasur, 60 Jhelum, 51 Vehari, 43 Jhang, 35 Attock, 33 Hafizabad, 32 each Mandi Bahauddin and Dera Ghazi Khan, 22 Muzaffargarh, 21 each Bahawalpur and Sheikhupura, 20 each Mianwali and Pakpattan, 19 Okara, 18 Narowal, 17 Nankana Sahib, 15 Khushab, 14 Sahiwal, 13 each Bhakkar and Chiniot, 11 Bahawalnagar, nine Lodhran, seven each Toba Tek Singh and Khanewal, five Chakwal and three in Layyah.

Of the 1,926 confirmed Covid-19 preachers, 815 were reported from Raiwind Markaz, 145 Sargodha, 126 Multan, 106 Lodhran, 67 Bhakkar, 61 Muzaffargarh, 56 Rahim Yar Khan, 54 Jhelum, 46 Vehari, 43 Bahawalpur, 38 Layyah, 35 Hafizabad, 33 Mandi Bahauddin, 32 Khushab, 30 Rawalpindi, 28 Nankana Sahib, 27 Bahawalnagar, 26 Narowal, 22 each Rajanpur and Sialkot, 21 Gujranwala, 18 Faisalabad, 16 Attock, 13 Pakpattan, 12 Sheikhupura, 10 Gujrat, eight Sahiwal, seven Mianwali, 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.

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 from Faisalabad, Kasur and Hafizabad.

As per focal person for Services Institute of Medical Sciences, all 59 prisoners tested positive for Covid-19 at Camp Jail have fully recovered and shifted back to their respective cells.

So far 88,899 tests have been performed in the province. As many as 2,206 patients have recovered and sent home. Presently, 22 serious patients are under treatment at High Dependency Units in public sector hospitals.

Meanwhile, Sindh government spokesman Barrister Murtaza Wahab Saturday said at least 253 children have been diagnosed with coronavirus in Sindh, while the number of coronavirus cases among women has started to increase till 26% of total patients.

In a video message, he said the purpose of stating the statistics was that the coronavirus had now ‘hit our homes because we are not taking precautionary measures, causing children and women to become infected with the virus.”

Murtaza Wahab said that last two months had been very difficult and due to the cooperation of the people, the government of Sindh had been very successful in its endeavors.

He appealed to the masses to adopt precautionary measures and maintain social distancing to avoid carrying the virus to homes.