Pakistani citizen dies of coronavirus in Italy

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD/SKARDU: A Pakistani citizen has died of the novel coronavirus in Italy, the Foreign Office confirmed on Wednesday.

The Pakistani national passed away in Brescia, about 100 kilometres from Milan, a spokesperson from the Foreign Office said. “The Pakistani Consulate in Milan is in touch with the concerned family as well as the authorities in Italy,” the spokesperson said. In Italy, the virus has killed 631 people, infected more than 10,000 people and put hospitals and the economy under severe strain.

The development comes as Pakistan’s 20th virus case was discovered in Gilgit-Baltistan on Wednesday. GB Commissioner Imran Ali said the 14-year-old boy is currently under treatment in a Skardu hospital. The boy and his mother had come to Skardu from Iran on February 26 along with his mother after visiting shrines.

The commissioner said the family had not disclosed to health authorities about their return from Iran, and urged people to inform health officials about their travels to the virus-stricken region. On Wednesday, Iran announced 63 new virus deaths, taking the total death toll to 354, with more than 9,000 confirmed cases.

Earlier on Wednesday, a three-member team from the National Institute of Health (NIH) reached Skardu to train local health officials, said GB government spokesperson Faizullah Firaq. The team also met the GB secretary. They discussed precautionary measures that could be taken to combat the virus.

This is the area’s second coronavirus case. The first confirmed case in GB was of a 45-year-old woman, who had also arrived from Iran before she was diagnosed. Sindh has reported the most number of confirmed cases among the provinces, with Karachi the worst affected city so far with 15 of the total confirmed cases. On Tuesday, two cases of the coronavirus had emerged in Sindh. The first was reported in Hyderabad. The patient reportedly came to Pakistan from Doha via Syria. The second case was reported in Karachi.