Pakistan has a better recovery ratio of Covid-19 patients compared with statistics of other countries and the final decision to continue the lockdown will be made according to the scale of the local transmission, said Punjab Health Minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid while talking to media during her visit to Dera Ghazi Khan on Wednesday.
The minister said, “We had set a target of making eight Bio Safety Level-3 Laboratories functional by the start of the Pandemic and five of them have already been made functional. The remaining three will be made functional within a month.
Besides these eight, the ninth lab will be set up at Rahim Yar Khan. With the addition of new labs, we will be able to increase our capacity to 10,000 tests per day. Currently we have more than 55,000 test kits in stock.”
The minister said as many 145 hotspots for Corona virus have been identified completely sealed in Punjab to stop the spread of the virus in general population. She added the quarantine centers can house over 28,000 patients.
The minister said, “The good news from Dera Ghazi Khan Quarantine Center is that only four peoples were confirmed positive from a total of 820 pilgrims kept at the center. In view of the Pandemic, we envisaged setting up 11 field hospitals in the province.
Our public sector hospitals have a capacity of 50,000 beds and private sector hospitals have a capacity of 2,000 beds. The final decision to continue the lockdown will be made according to the scale of the local transmission. We are taking test samples from jails, Darul Aman and from general households.”
She also visited the 50-bedded field hospital at the Sports Stadium, DG Khan. She reviewed the arrangements, met the doctors and staff at the hospital, and appreciated the district administration for making good arrangements. She also mentioned that over 62,000 health cards have been distributed in the province.
She also visited Rajanpur Quarantine Center on Wednesday to check arrangements for Covid-19 suspected and confirmed patients.
Punjab Livestock Minister Hasnain Dareshak, deputy commissioner and CEO of Rajanpur district accompanied the minister to the center.
The deputy commissioner and the CEO gave a briefing to the minister about the arrangements at the center. A total of 85 patients were kept at the Rajanpur Center out of whom 60 have returned to their homes including confirmed patients.
Dr Yasmin Rashid said, “We are making repeated appeals to the people to observe safety precautions. We are trying to enhance the testing capacity and to take it to 10,000 tests per day. The morale of doctors and paramedical staff is high and they are working with dedication and commitment.”
