The nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients jumped to 7,773 on Saturday, with 3,504 cases reported in Punjab, 2,355 in Sindh, 1,077 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 376 in Balochistan, 250 in Gilgit Baltistan, 163 in Islamabad, and 48 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The virus has claimed 144 lives while at least 1,832 coronavirus patients have recovered.
The number of coronavirus patients in Balochistan increased to 376 with the addition of 41 fresh cases on Saturday, according to a provincial health department statement. It said as many as 144 patients have fully recovered with five Covid-19 deaths reported so far. A total of 4,709 people tested negative for coronavirus as the authorities have carried out 5,085 total tests thus far, said official statement.
The Punjab health department has reported 94 new more case of coronavirus to take the provincial tally to 3,504. This includes 70 pilgrims, 1,374 members of Tableeghi Jamaat, 91 inmates and 1,338 ordinary citizens. It has also reported four more deaths, taking the total number of people who have died from Covid-19 in the province to 41. Thirty-four of the new cases have been reported from Lahore, 20 from Sialkot, four each from Jhang and Multan, three each from Sheikhupura and Gujranwala, two from Rahim Yar Khan and one each from Sargodha, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi. Twenty-one of the new cases are from people who participated in the Raiwind Ijtima.
Sindh government confirmed that 138 new cases were reported across Sindh with the death toll rising to 48 in the province. It said that 11 people have recovered from the virus in the province in the past 24 hours.
The Indus Medical College and Hospital in Sindh’s Tando Mohammad Khan district was closed on Saturday after a doctor at the health facility tested positive for the coronavirus. CEO of the hospital and medical college Dr Iqbal Memon said the 60-year-old doctor has been shifted to an isolation facility in Tando Mohammad Khan after testing positive. “Around 100 of our doctors, paramedics, nurses, sanitary workers and other allied staff are in quarantine within the hospital,” he said.
On the international front, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Saturday said that the US and Canada have agreed to keep their border closed to non-essential travel for another 30 days, adding that it will be undoubtedly longer before the restriction is removed. He further said it will keep people on both sides of the border safe amid the pandemic. “The agreement is the same terms. It’s just extended for another 30 days. It will ensure we continue to get essential goods and services back and forth across the border,” he said.
At least 20 officials working at Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s palace have tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting the 70-year-old leader to limit most of his contact with staff to digital communication, government sources said. An official document delivered to the Presidential Palace in Kabul is thought to have infected staff, many of whom began feeling unwell and were tested earlier this month, according to a senior health official. “A contaminated document was sent to an office inside the palace from another government department and that’s how the employees were infected,” the official said.
