Daily Times

The death toll from coronavirus outbreak in Pakistan rose to 25 on Monday, with tally of confirmed cases in the country jumping to 1,762.

The provincial governments in Punjab and Sindh confirmed four more casualties due to COVID-19 on Monday night. With three fatalities in Punjab, the provincial death toll rose to nine.

A 55-year-old woman and two male patients – 70 and 42 years of ages – passed away at Mayo Hospital, Lahore on Monday, said the spokesperson of primary and secondary healthcare. On the other hand, Sindh Minister for Health and Population Welfare Dr Azra Pechuho also confirmed one more death in the province. The 63-year-old patient was a resident of Karachi and diagnosed with COVID-19 two days ago. The patient had a history of acute respiratory distress syndrome and had returned from Saudi Arabia 10 days ago. This brought the total number of deaths in Sindh to six.

Of a total of 1,762 confirmed cases in the country, 638 have been reported in Punjab, 566 in Sindh, 221 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 152 in Balochistan, 128 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 51 in Islamabad and six in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The total number of cases in Sindh has risen to 566 after 31 new cases were confirmed on Monday. All the latest cases are from among the members of the Tableegi Jamaat, quarantined in Noor Mosque in Hyderabad.

The cases reported in the province on Monday include 27 cases of local transmission in Karachi, 36 cases of local transmission in Tableegi Jamaat in Hyderabad and one case of local transmission in Jacobabad.

Eleven new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Balochistan, taking the provincial total to 152, according to a situation report released by the Balochistan health department. Two patients have so far recovered from the virus in the province while one person has died. Out of the total, Balochistan has recorded 15 cases of local transmission.

Twenty-nine more cases of the novel coronavirus were reported in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on Monday, the KP government focal person for Covid-19, Zain Mirza, confirmed. With the latest cases, the provincial tally has risen to 221.

According to a notification issued by the Crisis Management Cell of the Office of the Deputy Commissioner Dir Lower, three family members of a woman who tested positive for the coronavirus have also tested positive for Covid-19. This includes two of her daughters and a son. Some other members of her family, however, tested negative for the virus.

Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani Monday announced that he has tested negative for coronavirus. “I will pick up my work from where I left,” he said in a video message on Twitter.

More than two dozen patients, including pilgrims who arrived from Taftan in Sukkur, also recovered from the COVID-19 coronavirus in Sindh, the provincial government’s spokesperson announced on Monday. “4 more patients have recovered from Corona Virus in Sindh and have tested negative,” Senator Murtaza Wahab said on Twitter, adding that the total number of recovered patients across the province had risen to 18.

Shortly afterwards, Wahab said 23 of the coronavirus-positive pilgrims who had earlier arrived from Taftan in Sukkur, where they were quarantined, had also tested negative, bringing the total to 43. He reiterated the importance of isolation guidelines, saying if everyone followed the instructions and isolated themselves, “we can actually protect not only ourselves but our loved ones & others”.

Interior Minister Ijaz Ahmed Shah said that 10 people of the same family have been diagnosed with the coronavirus in Nankana Sahib. In his video message on Monday, Ijaz Shah said the coronavirus affected people recently travelled to Saudi Arabia. He said in view of the situation, all residents of the area have been quarantined for 14 days.