Overall 275 fresh cases of coronavirus have been reported from Punjab province during last 24-hours, raising the provincial tally to 18,730 cases.
Giving a breakdown of the areas from where fresh cases were reported, the health department data showed that Hafizabad remained the most affected area with 55 new virus cases, followed by 54 cases from Faisalabad, 33 cases from Rawalpindi, 28 from Lahore, Gujranwala 24, Multan 14 and 11 each cases from Rahim Yar Khan and Sargodha. The spokesman for the primary and secondary health care department Punjab said that overall 324 people have died from the virus in the province. “We have currently performed 197225 tests,” the spokesman said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the number of coronavirus cases reported today were far less than those reported on Friday as 1,073 new virus cases emerged in Punjab during the last 24 hours of the previous day.
Chief Minister’s Advisor Ajmal Khan Wazir on Saturday handed over a protective gear to journal¬ist leaders in Peshawar and also announced free medical treatment and Rs 1 million in case of death of a journalist due to coronavirus.
Wazir said that the package was an acknowledgment of the KP government that journalists were playing an important role in the battle against coronavirus.
He was briefing the media regarding corona updates on Saturday in the Information Department at Civil Secretariat.
Ajmal said that the KP government has purchased protective equipment, costing Rs 1.5 billion for the Health Department.
About the government’s initiatives, he said that 275 quarantine centers have been set up across the province, with a capacity of 18,000 people along with high dependency units in different hospitals of the province which has the capacity of 480 patients.
He also told media that there were 110 isolation wards with a capacity of 3,000 people. He further said that there were 583 ventilators across the province whose numbers will be increased further.
Referring to the health staff, Wazir said that a locum scheme has been introduced to back up the existing health staff, which has registered 9,500 people, including specialists, doctors and paramedics. As per the emergency, 638 doctors were recruited on regular and 1299 on temporary basis.
On the occasion, the advisor also handed over 1000 bottles of sanitizer, 1000 masks and hundred pieces of safety kits to the presi¬dent of Peshawar Press Club Syed Bukhar Shah and president of Khyber Union of Journalists Fida Khat¬tak on behalf of the KP government.
