Suspected coronavirus patient admitted to hospital

MULTAN: A suspected coronavirus patient was admitted to the Nishtar Hospital and doctors shifted him to the isolation ward on Monday, hospital sources said.

The patient, Masood Ahmed, 30 was brought from the Rajanpur district and shifted to the isolation ward after initial investigation. Doctors have sent his blood samples to Islamabad’s National Institute of Health Sciences for laboratory tests. The patient was not in a critical condition and was feeling better after initial treatment, doctors said.

Masood had served with Chinese on a China Pakistan Economic Corridor project a couple of months ago. The total number of coronavirus suspects in Multan have reached three since January last when the first patient was reported in Multan on January 25. However, their laboratory reports have yet not been received from Islamabad and families are anxiously waiting for reports.

Earlier, a 40-year-old Chinese, Feng Fin, was identified as virus suspect. He was serving under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor at Multan Industrial Estate Camp when he was brought to the Nishtar Hospital. The suspect had returned to Pakistan from Wuhan, China, a couple of days back. The third coronavirus suspect was a Pakistani student.

He returned from China and was admitted to the Nishtar Hospital. Both patients have been shifted to the isolation ward while their reports are being waited.

Doctors said coronavirus test facilities are not available in Pakistan. The hospital has sent blood samples to Islamabad for dispatching them to China for laboratory tests.

Senior physician Dr Sheikh Abdul Khaliq of the Nishtar Hospital said coronavirus was first identified in the 1960s in the nose of patients who had caught cold. Two human coronaviruses are responsible for a large proportion of common colds OC43 and 229E.