Coronavirus claims third life in Pakistan

KARACHI: Sindh health official on Friday confirmed the death of a coronavirus patient in Karachi.

In a video statement issued to media, Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said a 77-year-old COVID-19 patient has lost the battle against the virus. The confirmation takes the total number of virus deaths in Pakistan to three.

The minister said the patient was a cancer survivor and had diabetes and hypertension when he contracted the virus. She added that the patient did not have any travel or contact history.

Earlier this week, two patients from KP who tested positive for the coronavirus had died, officials said. The patient from Sindh who passed away today was the first death from the local transmission of the virus.

The third death from the coronavirus was reported as the total cases of the virus in the country rose to more than 450 on Friday, after new ones were reported in Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

Sindh is the most affected province in the outbreak, with 238 confirmed cases of the virus. Punjab has 80, KP has 23, Balochistan 81, Islamabad 7, and GB has 21 confirmed cases.

Globally, 176 countries have been affected, more than 9,700 people have died and more than 234,000 infected by the disease as it spreads rapidly to new territories. The epicentre of the outbreak has now shifted to Europe, which is recording a rapid rise in new cases every day.

'A large number of people' from Iran quarantined in Karachi

The spokesperson for Sindh's health minister said late Thursday the provincial government was aware of "a large number of people [that] have reached from Iran to Karachi" amid the coronavirus outbreak and that the pilgrims had been quarantined.

"We already know about them and they all have been quarantined," said Meeran Yousuf, the provincial health minister's spokesperson, when asked on Twitter if a rumour circulating on social media platforms was true.

Earlier in the day, a local journalist had tweeted: "A large number of people have reached from Iran to Karachi, particularly Lyari, without being properly screening at the borders."