28 more fall victim to Corona

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE /PESHAWAR/KARACHI: The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 24,898 on Thursday with the addition of 14,30 new cases.

Of the total 24,898 confirmed cases, Sindh reported 9,093 cases, Punjab 9,195, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 3,956, Balochistan 1,663, Islamabad Capital Territory 521, Gilgit-Baltistan 394, and AJK 76 as of 11:55pm. The death toll rose to 591 with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reporting 209 deaths, Sindh 171, Balochistan 22, Gilgit-Baltistan 3, Punjab 182, and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) 4.

A total of 6,464 patients have recovered so far countrywide.

Meanwhile, in Punjab, the virus claimed the highest number of 26 lives in a single day on Thursday since the outbreak of the disease in Pakistan.

The fatality of 26 patients on Thursday raised the death toll to 182 in Punjab, while confirmed cases of coronavirus rose to 9,195 with the addition of 504 new cases in the province.

Out of 182 Covid-19 fatalities in Punjab till date, 68 occurred in Lahore, 34 in Multan, 31 in Rawalpindi, 17 in Gujranwala, 10 in Faisalabad, four in Sargodha, three each in Gujrat and Rahim Yar Khan, two each in Muzaffargarh and Toba Tek Singh and one each in Attock, Bahawalpur, Hafizabad, Jhang, Nankana Sahib, Sahiwal, Sialkot and Narowal.

Out of 9,195 confirmed Covid-19 patients so far, 1,926 are preachers of Tableeghi Jamaat, 768 pilgrims who returned from Iran, 86 prisoners in nine districts and 6,415 citizens who either had travel history or fell victim to local transmission.

From amongst common citizens who contracted the virus locally, the highest number of cases are confirmed from Lahore where the number reached 3,449. Besides, 509 patients are confirmed in Rawalpindi, 422 in Gujranwala, 351 in Gujrat, 319 in Sialkot, 254 in Faisalabad, 156 in Multan, 97 in Sargodha, 78 in Rahim Yar Khan, 73 in Jhelum, 69 in Kasur, 59 in Jhang, 55 in Vehari, 47 in Hafizabad, 39 each in Sheikhupura and Attock, 38 in DG Khan, 36 in Mandi Bahauddin, 35 in Bahawalpur, 29 in Okara, 28 in Muzaffargarh, 26 in Pakpattan, 24 in Mianwali, 23 each in Narowal and Toba Tek Singh, 21 in Chiniot, 20 each in Sahiwal and Nankana Sahib, 18 in Lodhran, 17 in Khushab, 14 in Bhakkar, 13 in Bahawalnagar and seven each in Khanewal, Chakwal and Layyah.

As per focal person of the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, 112,007 tests have been performed in the province so far. As many as 3,201 patients have recovered and returned home. Presently, 22 serious patients are under treatment at High Dependency Units in public sector hospitals.

The Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department (SHC&MED) has a dedicated bed strength of 8,728 in Punjab including 3,370 corona beds dedicated in teaching hospitals, 3,374 corona beds established in field hospitals with a potential of 1,984 corona beds to be established in field hospitals. Presently, a total of 2,261 beds are occupied by Covid-19 patients. Currently, 2,025 coronavirus patients are admitted out of whom 40 are in critical condition, while 34 patients are on ventilators.

As many as 186 Covid-19 patients have perished, while 1,697 have recovered. As far as the situation of the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) in hospitals of Punjab, the SHC&ME Department has made available 120,691 water resistant gowns, 43,131 grade N95 or higher face masks, 13,890 goggles or protective glasses, 6,503,057 examination gloves, 2,322,437 surgical masks, 1,160,534 surgical gloves, 2,019,438 disposable caps, 732,384 shoe cover disposables, 331 body bags, 27,772 face shields and 1,904 long shoes.

Meanwhile, the SHC&ME Department has also sought help of the Labour Department’s network of Social Security Hospitals to spare their health facilities/beds for Covid-19 patients.

SHC&ME Department’s Special Secretary (Development and Finance) Nadir Chatha confirmed that Social Security Hospitals are part of the Health Department’s plan. “The benefit is that these hospitals are usually very well equipped and not open to general public so the quantum of people visiting is very minimal compared to regular government hospitals,” he added.

To a question about an inquiry into concealing of scores of Covid-19 patients at the Bahria Hospital Rawalpindi, Chatha said the hospital administration has been given an opportunity to present its defence. “They have been called on May 12 to present their side of the version before finalization of inquiry in this regard,” he added.

The Punjab government has also started random testing in six districts of Punjab to ascertain the prevalence of coronavirus in each district. “Punjab has a capacity of conducting 5,400 tests daily, which will be increased to 10,000 per day by the end of this week,” said Musarrat Jamshed Cheema, spokesperson of the Punjab government.

Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah Thursday said the province had recorded 14 deaths within 24 hours, taking the total number of deaths in the province to 171 as COVID-19 cases continue to emerge across the country.

According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister House, Murad said: “Though the deaths in terms of total patients are 1.9%, we are still losing precious lives, but we can control it if we all observe SOPs and guidelines of the experts in true letter and spirit.”

CM Murad said the first coronavirus case was reported on February 26 and the first death occurred on March 19, 2020.

“Today, on day 72 of the pandemic we have 9,093 cases and from March 19 to May 7 means within 49 days the coronavirus has claimed 171 lives,” he added. So far, the provincial government has conducted 76,078 tests against which 9093 cases have been confirmed positive, he said.

He said that out of 453 cases diagnosed today, 335 cases were reported from Karachi. CM Murad said that 91 cases belong to District Central, 81 South, 69 East, 33 Korangi, 33 Malir, and 28 to West. “We are increasing random tests at grocery and vegetable shops to detect more cases of local spread,” he said.

CM Murad said that Larkana registered 35 cases, Khairpur 16, Sukkur 12, Hyderabad nine, Kashmore eight, and Sanghar three cases.

The provincial chief minister said that Larkana, Khairpur, and Sukkur have recorded a huge number of local transmission cases. “This is a serious situation and everyone has to understand the sensitivity of the issue, otherwise we won’t be able to control it,” CM Murad said.

The chief minister said that at present 7,069 patients were under treatment among which 5,858 were undergoing home isolation, 683 were being treated at isolation centers. He added that 87 patients were in critical condition and among them, 14 were on ventilators. CM Murad said that his government has developed 17 facilities with 4,688 beds purely allocated for COVID-19 patients, while 1,224 patients have been admitted to these facilities.

The chief minister urged people to be cautious and save themselves and their near and dear ones from the virus.

Meanwhile, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at least 15 more people lost their lives to coronavirus in the last two days and 457 people tested positive for the fatal virus in the province.

With the latest deaths, the fatalities from coronavirus in KP has reached 209, the highest in the country, while the total number of positive cases climbed to 3,956.On Thursday, six people lost lives of whom four belonged to Peshawar and the remaining two were from the Malakand and Mansehra districts.

Peshawar is usually the most affected place in the province. Of the 244 people who tested positive 115 were from the provincial capital. Other districts, including Swat, reported 32 positive cases, Malakand 20, Charsadda 13, Mardan 12, Bajaur 8, Buner 7, Bannu 5, Lower Dir 4, and two cases each were reported from Tank, Kohat, Orakzai, Kurram, Mansehra and Abbottabad.

After the Peshawar Division, where 139 people have lost lives and 1586 tested positive so far, Malakand Division is the second place in KP with the highest human losses and positive cases. In Malakand Division, 31 people have lost lives so far as a result of Covid-19 and 932 people tested positive. The Mardan Division that comprises only two districts in the list of the Health Department, Mardan and Swabi, 15 people have died thus far from the fatal virus. It has reported 261 positive cases to date.

On Wednesday, nine people had lost lives in KP and 213 people were diagnosed with coronavirus. Among them, six people had died in Peshawar, and one each in Mardan, Swabi and Malakand district.

The fatality rate in Pakistan is 2.34 of confirmed cases, 24,073 and 564 deaths. And the case fatality rate in KP is 5.28, the highest in the country, of confirmed cases, 3,956, and 209 deaths, also the highest in the country.

The situation in Peshawar is still alarming as the CFR in Peshawar is 8.13, the most high in any city of Pakistan, with confirmed cases, 1586, and 129 deaths, the highest in the province.

Meantime, Director General Balochistan Health Department Dr Saleem Abro Thursday warned that if the lockdown restrictions were not followed, coronavirus cases in the province would cross 300,000 in July.

Addressing a news conference, Dr Abro said: “I am warning you that if safety precautions are not followed then the coronavirus cases may surge to 9.5 million by December,”

He said there had been a rise in locally transmitted cases throughout the province, saying the situation might turn worse if people didn’t take the coronavirus seriously.

About the measures being taken to curb the infection, Dr Abro said that the province was conducting 700-800 tests daily. “We have two PCR machines and young doctors have been provided PPEs,” he said.

He said that senior doctors in the provinces were also getting affected by the coronavirus. Dr Abro pleaded with the public to heed safety precautions to keep themselves out of danger.