The number of confirmed coronavirus infections globally reached 2,000,984 on Wednesday, according to data from the Coronavirus Resource Centre at Johns Hopkins University. The global death toll from Covid-19 has crossed 128,000, while more than 500,000 have recovered from the disease.
In Pakistan, the tally of Covid-19 patients Wednesday reached 6,300, with 3,016 cases reported in Punjab, 1,668 in Sindh, 912 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 281 in Balochistan, 237 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 140 in Islamabad, and 46 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The virus has claimed 117 lives while at least 1,446 coronavirus patients have recovered.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported 47 new cases of the coronavirus, taking the provincial total to 912. Most of the new cases are of Tableeghi Jamaat members who have travel history. The province also reported four new deaths, taking the provincial total of people who died from Covid-19 to 42. One of the deceased, who breathed his last at a Peshawar hospital, belonged to Mohmand district’s Helimzai tehsil.
Five foreign members of the Tableeghi Jamaat tested positive for the coronavirus in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swabi district, Deputy Commissioner Shahid Mehmood said. They were among 43 foreign members of the preaching group who were quarantined at a local mosque. The tests of 38 of them came out negative. Two of the five people belong to Iran, two to Djibouti and one to Yemen.
Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan confirmed 41 new cases of coronavirus in the province. This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases to 281 in the province.
While requesting people to take precautionary measures against the contagious disease, the chief minister wrote on his Twitter handle, “People please wear masks, keep social distancing and unnecessary movements.”
Gilgit-Baltistan Law Minister Aurangzeb Advocate confirmed three more cases of coronavirus, bringing the region’s tally to 237. At least 178 patients have recovered so far, he added.
The authorities at Lahore’s Camp Jail heaved a sigh of relief as the coronavirus tests of 37 prisoners came out negative on Wednesday. These were the second test results of prisoners while the third test samples have also been sent fort testing. After clearance of 37 prisoners out of 59 coronavirus suspects, only 22 inmates now are being treated, the jail authorities said. As per the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, as many as 89 prisoners have tested positive for coronavirus in Lahore, Sialkot, Gujranwala and Dera Ghazi Khan.
Elsewhere in the world, Iran Wednesday said that new deaths from the novel coronavirus remained in double figures for the second day in a row, as the country gradually reopens its sanctions-hit economy. However, the virus deaths were lower than 100 for the second day in a row.
Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said 94 deaths from the Covid-19 disease were recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall toll to 4,777. Another 1,512 people tested positive for the illness. That took the total number of infections to 76,389, Jahanpour said, noting that 49,933 of those hospitalised had recovered and been discharged.
The United Kingdom’s hospital death toll from COVID-19 rose by 761 to 12,868 as of 1600 on April 14, the health ministry said. The 761 rise is down from 778 in the previous period and a high of 980 on April 10. The ministry said 313,769 people have been tested of which 98,476 tested positive.
Japan urged its citizens on Wednesday to stay home, as media reports warned that as many as 400,000 of them could die of the coronavirus without urgent action, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came under pressure to hand out more cash. Japan, which tests only people with symptoms of the coronavirus, has so far recorded more than 9,000 infections, including passenger who caught the virus on a cruise ship, with nearly 200 deaths.
