10 Karachi doctors isolated over suspicions of being infected with coronavirus

KARACHI: The Abbasi Shaheed Hospital administration on Thursday shifted 10 doctors into isolation over suspicion that they have been infected with the coronavirus.

The virus has affected 238 people in Sindh and 467 all over Pakistan, and has left three others dead.

The medical facility's administration said the doctors in isolation have been referred to screening, following which they would likely undergo further tests.

The doctors have been advised to self-isolate at their homes.

First virus death in Karachi

Ealier in the day, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho confirmed the death of a 77-year-old COVID-19 patient in the province.

The minister said the patient was 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 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, Baochistan 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.