Pakistan reported over 100 news cases of coronavirus on Monday, taking the nationwide tally to 875.
Out of 875 cases confirmed so far, 394 have been reported in Sindh, 246 in Punjab, 110 in Balochistan, 72 in AJK and GB, 38 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 15 in Islamabad. At least six people have dies of the disease so far in the country.
Two new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Balochistan on Monday, the provincial chief secretary Fazeel Asghar said. Balochistan so far has 110 confirmed cases of Covid-19.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department recorded six new cases in the province on Monday. The number of positive cases in the province is now 38.
Sindh detected 42 new coronavirus cases, Meeran Yousuf, media coordinator to the health minister, said on Monday. Three of the cases have been reported in Karachi and 39 have been recorded in Sukkur. The provincial tally is now 394.
Punjab, meanwhile, detected 21 new coronavirus cases, the province’s primary and secondary healthcare department said. The total number of positive cases in Punjab has now gone up to 246.
The administration of federal capital on Monday placed Islamabad’s union council of Kot Hathial under quarantine after six members of the Tableeghi Jamaat residing in the area tested positive for coronavirus. The development comes as four people in Sindh and two Palestinians tested positive for the virus after attending the Tableeghi Jamaat congregation in Raiwind – comprising tens of thousands of people – which was held from March 11 to 15 near Lahore.
It wasn’t immediately clear if the Jamaat members who tested positive in Islamabad had attended the Raiwind Ijtima.
The six patients were part of a 13-member Tableeghi Jamaat delegation – including six Kyrgyzstan nationals and seven Pakistanis – that was staying at a mosque in Kot Hathial in the capital’s Bhara Kahu area.
After a man from Kyrgyzstan who was a part of the preaching team tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, samples were sent for testing of the other members of the delegation as well. The test results of five people came out positive on Monday, said Assistant Superintendent Police (ASP) Bhara Kahu Hamza Amanullah. He said tests are also being carried out of the seven other members of the Jamaat, which included a madrassah student. After the confirmation of the cases, the administration locked down Kot Hathial and deployed police at its entry and exit points.
On the international front, Italy recorded a smaller day-to-day increase in new coronavirus cases for the second straight day on Monday. Data released by Italy’s Civil Protection Agency on Monday showed 4,789 new cases from a day earlier, nearly 700 fewer than the day-to-day increase reported Sunday. The number of deaths also did not rise by as much. There were just over 600 registered on Monday compared to 651 on Sunday. As of Monday, Italy has a total of 59,138 virus cases. Mexico will hand over control of approximately 10 hospitals to the army to prepare the country to deal with the ‘critical stage’ of the coronavirus outbreak, Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador said in a video posted on his Twitter account, CNN reported.
Some 1.7 billion people have been asked to stay home in over 50 countries and territories around the world as governments battle the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, according to an AFP tally on Monday.
Some countries have imposed mandatory lockdown measures, while others have issued stay-at-home recommendations to stem the spread of the virus. Lockdowns in parts of India alone have kept some 700 million people hemmed in, in the world’s second-most populated nation. At least 34 more countries and territories have also established mandatory lockdown measures ordering people to stay in their homes, accounting for some 659 million people.
