DI Khan plays crucial role in fight against corona, say officials

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: The Dera Ismail Khan district played a crucial role in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, officials said on Sunday.

Speaking at a joint news press conference at the Circuit House here, Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Umair and District Police Officer Hafiz Wahid Mehmood said that the role played by the district administration in combating the Covid-19 epidemic and containing the fast-spreading viral infection would be remembered for a long time in the history.

“We had established the first quarantine centre in Darazinda long before, while other districts in KP were still thinking over such facilities in the initial days of coronavirus emergence,” the officials said, adding that the biggest quarantine centre was set up at the Gomal Medical College where 340 Pakistani pilgrims (ziareen) from Iran were treated and sent to their homes safely.

These zaireen, they said, belonged to 27 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Similarly, they said over 300 members of the Tableeghi Jamaat, including 33 foreign religious preachers, were also quarantined in different centres of the district and subsequently sent to their homes after their complete recovery.

Giving data of Covid-19 cases in the district, the officials said that there were 16 positive cases in which 10 individuals recovered and reported negative. About the relief cash disbursement, the DC said that 78,500 poor and deserving families had been provided financial assistance under the Ehsaas programme. The officials vowed that hoarders and profiteers would be taken to task during the upcoming holy month of Ramazan.

They also appealed to people to follow government instructions and stay home to prevent spread of the fatal viral infection in the district.