Six corona patients die at Nishtar Hospital in Multan

MULTAN: Six coronavirus patients died at Nishtar Hospital, Multan, on Wednesday.

According to the hospital officials, Shahina Bibi, 55, of Khanewal, Shagufta Jabeen, 65, Mujahid Raza, 63, and Manzoor Hussein, 70, all from Multan, Jamil Akhtar, 66, of Kot Addu, Bashir Bibi, 72, of Dera Ghazi Khan died from coronavirus in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

Talking to reporters, Dr Irfan, Nishtar Hospital spokesperson, said 65 positive for coronavirus patients, 47 suspected and 50 having negative reports were admitted to the hospital. He said death toll has escalated to 84 in 32 days.

The district health authorities said tests of 1,563 people were conducted in Multan, Khanewal, Lodhran and Vehari districts during the last 24 hours. Reportedly, 64 out of 1,563 people were tested positive for coronavirus. Some 928 tests were conducted at Multan Nishtar Hospital and 52 people were tested positive for the virus while results of 4, 753 tests were being awaited. Some 220 tests were conducted in Khanewal district and a single patient was not tested positive for the virus and 1,355 people are awaiting results and 120 tests were conducted in Lodhran district and 3 tested positive for the COVID-19 and results of 120 people were being awaited. Some 295 tests were conducted in Vehari district and nine people tested positive, the health authorities said.

Kinnow target for export fixed: All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters Association (PFVA) patron-in chief Waheed Ahmed Wednesday said the association had fixed 350,000 metric tones of kinnows for export during the current season.

Talking to reporters, the PFVA patron-in chief said the export of kinnow would fetch $210 million and production of the fruit is expected to 2,100,000 metric tonnes. He said export of the fruit during the previous season was 300,000 metric tonnes. He said the export of the fruit had started from December 1. He feared the production of quality exportable kinnow is far less. Of the total production, 75 percent production consists of grade B and C kinnow, which cannot be exported. He said the kinnow orchards are sixty years old and just cannot safeguard against various diseases. He said Pakistani Kinnow suffered from common diseases of blemish issue and Melanoses, which badly affects its cosmetic look and due to this reason, the PFVA had imposed “self-ban” on export of kinnow to Europe for the last several years to avoid interceptions leading to likely ban by the EU.

Reportedly, it is being witnessed that due to the global pandemic of coronavirus, the demand of citrus fruits containing vitamin C is increasing in the international markets and Pakistan being a prominent producer of citrus fruits can take full advantage of this unique opportunity, however due to quality issues of Kinnow, we have been unable to exploit such opportunities to our advantages, he maintained.

Waheed said the overall export of citrus fruits and value-added products can be enhanced to $ 1 billion in a period of five years, but to attain that, it is imperative to explore new verities of the citrus fruits free from various diseases and establish new orchards having higher yield per acre through extensive research & development (R&D). He lamented that in Punjab the kinnow production could not draw the attention of the higher authorities. For the last one decade, the PFVA has been conveying its serious concerns and early warnings to the federal and provincial governments about ‘dark clouds’ hovering over the Kinnow industry endangering its survival.