KARACHI: The Sindh government on Wednesday announced several new coronavirus cases, pushing the country’s tally to 270.
All new cases were reported in the southern Sindh province, raising the total number in the province to 76, Murtaza Wahab, a provincial government spokesman, said in a tweet.
He said all the new patients had recently returned from Taftan in neighboring Iran, which has the highest number of cases and deaths after China and Italy.
Following is the update of #COVIDー19 affected people in Sindh as on 18.03.20 at 11 AM:
Positive =38
Cured=2
Under treatment =36Pilgrims Sukkur
Total tests conducted 290
Negative 147
Positive 143Grand Total 181
— SenatorMurtaza Wahab (@murtazawahab1) March 18, 2020
“38 cases are from the rest of the province,” he added.
On Monday, Islamabad closed its borders with Iran and Afghanistan for two weeks in an attempt to curb the spread of the virus.
All education institutions across the country have already been closed for three weeks.
Several hostels across the country have been designated to quarantine suspected COVID-19 patients.
The government has also closed the Kartarpur Corridor in Punjab to Pakistani visitors, but the restriction does not apply to Indian Sikh pilgrims.
Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, located in Punjab’s Narowal district, is one of the most revered sites for the Sikh community as the faith’s founder Baba Guru Nanak spent 18 years of his life there.
After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the coronavirus has now spread to at least 146 countries and territories, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
