The nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients on Monday reached 5,481, with 2,656 cases reported in Punjab, 1,452 in Sindh, 744 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 231 in Balochistan, 224 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 131 in Islamabad, and 43 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The virus has claimed 95 lives while at least 1,125 coronavirus patients have recovered so far.
On Monday, reports of a number of medics testing positive for coronavirus surfaced. A senior cardiac surgeon at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) tested positive for the novel coronavirus. He was placed into quarantine at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute (PKLI). A team of the health department reached PIC and started screening the staff working in the institute’s intensive care unit (ICU) along with the affected doctor.
Earlier in the day, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Director Public Health Dr Ikramullah tested positive for the coronavirus, Health Minister Taimur Jhagra said. “He is in high spirits, feeling good, and isolated at his home,” he said, and paid tribute to Dr Ikramullah thanking him for his service and calling him an asset everyone was proud of. “Dr Ikram had to take the risk of attending the workplace so others are safe. Many of us do, and accept the risk, above all thousands of front line workers,” he tweeted.
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), a representative body of doctors, has said dozens of healthcare providers in the country have been infected with the virus, blaming the low quality of personal protective equipment given to them. In Multan’s Nishtar Medical Hospital, as many as 28 doctors and paramedics have been confirmed with Covid-19. Similarly, a number of healthcare providers have contracted the virus in Karachi. These healthcare providers are reported to have come into contact with infected but asymptomatic patients.
Over a dozen health professionals, including nine doctors and seven nurses, have been impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, an official of the Provincial Doctors Association said Monday. Dr Fazal Manan said the coronavirus has infected nine doctors and seven nurses. Five doctors and four professor-doctors were separately quarantined, he said, whereas eight were performing their duties at public hospitals and one at a private facility. The health professionals have been provided protective gear in a limited manner, Dr Manan added, noting that doctors were using N-95 masks for weeks.
Six prisoners and two policemen also tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Dera Ghazi Khan’s Central Jail on Monday. Commissioner Sajid Zafar said that the samples of 15 people – 13 prisoners and two policemen – were sent for testing. He said that the prisoners are being quarantined at the jail, while the policemen have been shifted to the Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital in Muzaffargarh.
The Sindh Health Department Monday reported that 271 of the 274 pilgrims, who had come back from Iran via the Taftan border and quarantined in Sukkur, have recovered. The report was confirmed by the coordinator to the Sindh health minister, Meeran Yousuf.
Former cricketer Zafar Sarfraz succumbed to coronavirus at Lady Reading Hospital, officials confirmed. Sarfaraz, 52, was diagnosed with COVID-19 six days ago. He was on a ventilator from the past three days, hospital officials said. The 52-year-old had played first-class matches for Peshawar.
