Health official says no coronavirus case in KP

PESHAWAR: Amid speculations about the alleged suspected coronavirus patient in the Swat district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Director General Health Services, Dr Tahir Nadeem said on Friday that they had not received such a case anywhere in the province.

Dr Tahir Nadeem told The News a patient was brought to the public sector hospital in Swat with some health problems, including chest issues. The doctors carefully examined the patient and admitted for further investigations, he added. The patient was advised to undergo an investigation for coronavirus. The people heard about the disease in the hospital got panicked. The news was on social media forthwith.

Nobody even bothered to talk to the authority concerned and started spreading the fake news that first coronavirus case had been reported in Swat, which obviously has not been confirmed yet. Dr Tahir Nadeem said they had now decided to keep the patient in the hospital in an isolation unit in Swat till all investigations are completed. He, however, said the Health Department had made all preliminary arrangements and placed the staff at high alert in case of an outbreak in the province. “Just to be on the safe side, we are at high alert,” said the DG Health Services.