5,497 confirmed cases, 95 deaths in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 rose to 5,497 on Monday, with Punjab reporting 2,672 cases, Sindh 1,452, KP 744, Balochistan 231, GB 224, ICT 131, and AJK 43 till 11:06pm.

The death toll stood at 95 deaths —34 in KP, 31 in Sindh, 24 in Punjab, 3 in GB, 2 inBalochistan, 1 in Islamabad, and none in AJK.

Around 1,097 patients were said to have recovered, while 44 were on the life support. Meanwhile, Minister Imran Khan will announce the post-April 14 way forward today (Tuesday) as chair of the National Coordination Committee (NCC), which will meet with the participation of chief ministers of all the provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan, as well as the Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

“A summary of nationally agreed recommendations will be finalized in the morning session of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC).

These recommendations will be tabled in the NCC session to be held in the afternoon, with the prime minister in the chair,” Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umer stated in his televised briefing on Monday.

PM’s Special Assistant on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza also shared the latest Covid-19 data on the occasion. Asad said the Monday meeting of the NCOC discussed a variety of strategic options vis-à-vis post-April 14 Covid-19 restrictions, with a focus on the impact of prospective choices on economy, transportation, trade, and other vital sectors.

“We had a detailed brainstorming on what kind of changes can be introduced, with all provinces and areas offering their feedback. The information requested by the provinces will duly be shared so that decisions are taken through mutual consensus. We will frame a domain-wise summary of recommendations, which will be shared in the NCC meeting. The final word will come from the PM,” Asad stated.

The minister said while there was a general consensus on progressive softening of the lockdown for several industries, the government was also contemplating legislation that will make it mandatory for the business owners to guarantee the safety and protection of their workers, should there be a relaxation in restrictions necessitated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“There is a rising demand for resumption of business activity. Businesses may restart, but not at the cost of workers’ health. Business owners will have to assume complete responsibility for the safety of their workers, ensuring strictest compliance to protective guidelines, should the PM announce any relaxations in lockdown,” Asad stated.

The minister asserted that a poverty-stricken developing country like Pakistan will end up paying a very heavy price if it halted all industrial activities.

“As such, we are piloting a testing, tracking, and quarantine strategy aka smart lockdown in four districts of the country and in Islamabad to interrupt local transmission of Covid-19, which has risen to 52 percent today,” Asad pointed out.

He said the success of the strategy hinged on proactive testing of persons carrying the virus, identification and testing of contacts, and isolation of suspected cases in the community while ensuring that their daily needs are met. He said, the results of the pilot test will give a clearer picture of the direction to take.

Having previously praised frontline health workers, the minister specially thanked the district administrations, members of the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC), and officials of all relevant ministries, for their selfless dedication and hard work beyond the call of duty.

“These people have been working 24/7 for the last three weeks, with no off-days. Their dedication is worth seeing. While to err is human, and there are definitely some gaps in performance, the nation should rest assured that they have the best possible team working for their safety,” he remarked, thanking all Pakistanis also for acting responsibly.

Asad said the government had distributed Rs28.5 billion among more than 2.3 million beneficiaries during the first five days of Ehsaas Emergency Relief Programme.

In his tweet, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said on Monday that the scale of this relief programme for the most vulnerable Pakistanis in these most difficult times, had no precedent in the country’s history.

Dr. Zafar Mirza quoted the NDMA chairman as having informed the NCOC meeting that Pakistan will soon be able to locally manufacture Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), except N95, in the first phase, and that arrangements are in the pipeline for local production of 100,000 N95 masks per day, in the second phase.

Dr. Zafar said the NDMA chairman also shared that Pakistan currently had enough kits to perform 600,000 tests; and the number will increase to over 1 million by April 15.

The SAPM added that in the early days of the outbreak, only four laboratories in the country had diagnostic facilities for Coronavirus. “Today, we have 27 laboratories, and seven more will become operational in the days to come. This is a huge achievement. Moreover, from just a few hundred tests, we are now performing 3,000 tests per day, and this number will rise to 30,000 tests per day by end of April,” he said.

With reference to concerns about provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to hospitals, the SAPM said a list of hospitals treating maximum Covid-19 patients was prepared, and PPEs had directly been provided to all frontline health workers treating patients in the identified hospitals.

Meanwhile, an elderly lady died in Karachi during the last 24 hours, while 41 more people were tested positive, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Monday, adding that all coroanvirus cases were reported from Karachi alone.

With the addition of the new numbers, the total number of cases in Sindh has now risen to 1,452. Disclosing daily report, the chief minister said during the last 24 hours 513 tests were conducted, of which 41 were diagnosed as positive and one patient died during the said period.

From Tuesday (today), we would conduct at least 1,500 tests helping us to understand the expanse of the virus,” he said. Murad said 13,309 tests were conducted so far out of which 1,452 turned out to be positive and one patient could not survive.

The death toll has now reached 31 which is 2.1 percent of the total patients, he said and added 31 patients had recovered during the last 24 hours.

He said 648 patients were in home isolation, 37 at isolation centers and 317 in hospitals.

He said if city-wise data was seen, Karachi had alarmingly high number of patients i.e. 19.28 (837) followed by Hyderabad 4.3 percent (178 patients).

“We tried our level best to contain the virus but failed and it has now infiltrated the slums, Katchi Abadis and rural areas of Karachi and Hyderabad,” he added.

The number of patients under the treatment is 1,002 out of 1,452, the bulk of 837 cases are from Karachi and coming from 207 Karachi east, 205 South, 170 Central, 95 Korangi, 87 West, 73 Malir.

The chief minister announced that said second higher number of cases were reported from Hyderabad with 178 patients, 274 pilgrims at Sukkur, 16 Larkana, 14 Khairpur, 12 Tando Mohammad Khan, 8 Shaheed Benazirabad, four Naushehroferoze, two to Jamshoro, two Sujawal, two Sanghar, two Ghotki, one Jacobabad, one Badin, one Dadu.

In Lahore, three more coronavirus patients died on Monday, taking the death toll to 24 and confirmed infections to 2,656 in the province.

According to details, one death each took place in Multan, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan.

Out of a total of 24 fatalities in the province so far, 11 occurred in Lahore, six in Rawalpindi, two in Rahim Yar Khan and one each in Multan, Bahawalpur, Jhelum, Faisalabad and Gujranwala.

A spokesperson for Primary and Secondary Healthcare (P&SH) Department said 12 COVID-19 patients were in critical condition and 272 recovered from the disease thus far.

The young doctors, nurses and paramedics have lambasted the Punjab government over its failure to provide them with personal protective equipment (PPE) kits.

“Sixty doctors, nurse and paramedics have so far contracted COVID-19, while tests reports of nearly 100 others are awaited,” said Dr Salman Haseeb, chairman Grand Health Alliance, and President Young Doctors Association, while addressing a press conference here at Mayo Hospital on Monday.

The graph of spread of coronavirus among medical staff dealing with COVID-19 patients in Punjab is highest among all provinces.

Dr Salman and Ms Shazia Tabassum said that a staff nurse at Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Hospital in Gujrat had died of coronavirus, but the government did not conduct her COVID-19 test in an attempt to hide the number of casualties due to the virus.

Similarly, a total of 14 doctors in Dera Ghazi Khan and more than 30 doctors, nurses and paramedics in Multan have been confirmed COVID-19 positive, which exposes government’s claims of making proper arrangements for the medical staff to protect them from the highly contagious virus. They demanded an inquiry into disappearance of PPE kits and other supplies from China and fix responsibility for the criminal negligence.

They drew Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmad’s attention towards Punjab, saying that Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid’s performance was worse.

They also criticised the Punjab government over hiring of doctors, nurses and paramedics for three months to perform duties at the corona isolation wards.

In Multan, eight more doctors tested COVID-19 positive on Monday, increasing the tally to 28 at Nishtar Hospital, health officials said.

Talking to The News, Nishtar Health University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mustafa Kamal Pasha said the total number of infected health professionals had reached 28 in Multan including 16 doctors, six nurses and six paramedics.

A kidney patient was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU), who died in the hospital. His report later confirmed he was a coronavirus positive.

A list of 60 doctors, nurses and paramedics was prepared who had attended that patient, he said. The blood screening reports confirmed that 28 out of 60 had contracted the virus, he added. The confirmed infected doctors include Dr Wahab, Dr Sajid, Dr Noor, Dr Husnain, Muhammad Ramzan, Ambar Shafi, Naseem Riaz.

Meanwhile, 62 new COVID-19 cases were reported across the province on Monday, taking the number of confirmed cases to 2,656. From amongst new patients, nine are jail inmates in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Out of a total confirmed COVID-19 patients, 864 are Tablighi Jamaat members, 701 pilgrims, returning from Iran, 89 prisoners in four districts and 1,002 citizens who either had travel history or fell victim to local transmission. Of the 864 confirmed COVID-19 Tablighi Jamaat members, 462 are at quarantine centre at Raiwind, 61 in Bhakkar, 52 in Muzaffargarh, 40 in Jhelum, 37 in Vehari, 35 each in Hafizabad and Sargodha, 19 in Sialkot, 17 in Mandi Bahauddin, 16 in Layyah, 15 in Narowal, 10 in Gujrat, nine each in Bahawalnagar and Rajanpur, eight in Sheikhupura, seven in Mianwali, six each in Rawalpindi and Faisalabad, four in Rahim Yar Khan, two each in Nankana Sahib, Gujranwala and Khushab.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar Monday said that providing relief to the poverty stricken people amid coronavirus pandemic was government’s first priority.

In a statement, the CM pledged taking care of the deserving people. It is high time to unite and help the families affected by the lockdown, he added.

Also, Executive Director of Punjab Institute of Neurosciences (PINS) Prof Dr Khalid Mahmood inaugurated the first disinfectant tunnel system at the main entrance of the Institute.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Monday said unity and cohesion were need of the hour to take a coherent action in fight against coronavirus.

Giving a media briefing on the National Coordination Committee (NCC) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, she said the decisions of the committee had been deferred for a day on the request of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.

The prime minister had advised the provincial governments to follow Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) regarding the return of Pakistanis abroad and give their viewpoint in tomorrow's meeting so that the concerned departments could form a roadmap for their return, she mentioned.

The SAPM said the prime minister had asked the Sindh CM to explain what impact would the extension of lockdown in Sindh leave over the labour class.

In a related development, the Azad Jammu Kashmir government Monday extended the lockdown across the state to April 21 in order to maintain the prevailing fool-proof measures to overcome the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the area.

Announcing this in a briefing to the media in Muzaffarabad, spokesperson for the AJK government and Minister for Population Welfare and Information Technology Dr. Mustafa Bashir said the State Coordination Committee would review further extension in the lockdown period in its scheduled meeting to be held on April 20 with Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider Khan in the chair.