Staff Reporter
Islamabad/Karachi
Punjab on Sunday reported its first case of COVID-19, a mysterious pneumonia-like disease caused by the novel coronavirus, after a 54-year-old patient who returned from the United Kingdom on March 10 tested positive at a Lahore hospital, pushing the tally in Pakistan to 53.
“It is the first COVID19 case in Punjab so far. All of his close contacts are tested negative but they will be kept in isolation for 15 days as per SOPs,” Punjab government spokesperson Musarrat Cheema confirmed in a tweet.
So far Pakistan has reported 53 COVID-19 cases – 35 in Sindh, 10 in Balochistan, 4 in Islamabad, 3 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 1 in Punjab.
At least 13 pilgrims, who arrived in Sukkur from Iran, have also tested positive for the contagious disease, raising the tally in Sindh to 35 out of which two have been discharged after full recovery.
The province now has three locally transmitted cases.
“So far 13 people have tested positive of COVID?19 from amongst the people who arrived in Sukkur from Taaftaan. These people were purportedly kept in quarantine at the border,” Sindh government spokesperson Mutaza Wahab confirmed in a tweet from his official handle. In another tweet, the provincial spokesperson said that one more case has tested positive of coronavirus in Sindh.
Five new cases of the novel coronavirus were also confirmed earlier in the day – four in Karachi and one in Islamabad. The Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) confirmed one case in Islamabad while the Sindh Health Department reported four new patients in Karachi.
The latest patient in Islamabad is the husband of the woman who recently arrived from the United States and tested positive. The woman is currently in critical condition, receiving treatment at the isolation ward of PIMS. Meanwhile, in a statement issued by Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah categorically shot down emergency lockdown. “The rumours are false. There is no need for panic.”
He added that the initiatives taken by the provincial government were “simply precautionary measures”.
“Some elements on social media are telling the masses to stock up on essentials and learn how to ration which is absolutely useless,” said Shah.
