First virus patient put on ventilator in AJK

MUZAFFARABAD: The first patient of Covid-19 had been put on ventilator in the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Saturday, as nine more cases emerged, taking the tally to 87, while 60 patients have recovered so far.

The 85-year-old patient was shifted on ventilator after his condition worsened, said a government spokesman, Dr Mustafa Bashir. The elderly person had returned from Gujranwala.

He said seven cases surfaced in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Muzaffarabad city. Some of these patients are the contacts of a local journalist, who was tested positive a few days earlier.

While two other persons, who tested positive, had returned from Islamabad and Gujranwala a couple of days back. The locality had been sealed and people were asked to remain in quarantine, Dr Bashir said.

The spokesman said at present only 27 patients were under treatment, as 60 others had recovered, proving government’s effective efforts to contain the virus.

Out of the 27 active Covid-19 cases in the AJK, 13 are in Isolation Hospital Muzaffarabad, 3 each in Plundari and Bagh districts, 5 in Kotli and 3 in Mirpur district while Poonch district recorded no case for the last two weeks.