Blog

  • How to get yourself tested for coronavirus in Pakistan

    With the number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus — COVID-19 — reaching 94 in Pakistan as Sindh alone reports a surge of 41 new cases on Monday, efforts are being made by the federal as well as all provincial governments to contain the outbreak that has claimed at least 6,000 lives globally.

    COVID-19, which belongs to a family of viruses that include the common cold and more serious diseases, such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), has a wide range of symptoms, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties.

    If you feel like you have any of the symptoms, here’s how you can get yourself tested in Pakistan:

    • Visit a government-designated public or private hospital. According to Dawn, Dr Mumtaz Ali Khan of the National Institute of Health (NIH) has said that all district headquarters hospitals and tertiary care hospitals across the country are equipped to collect samples for coronavirus.
    • At the hospital, a doctor will check the patient for symptoms to determine if he or she has coronavirus, according to NIH Executive Director Maj Gen Aamir Ikram.
    • The patient will be asked a set of questions regarding their travel history as well as of those they have been in close contact with.
    • If the doctor rules out suspicion of coronavirus, the patient will be sent back.
    • If the doctor comes to the conclusion that the patient is manifesting symptoms, a swab of their saliva is taken and sent to one of the designated facilities that have coronavirus testing equipment.
    • This testing will be done free of cost.

    While some private labs are independently testing individuals for the virus against a fee, here’s a list of facilities sending samples to the main centres for free testing. The free facilities will, however, not conduct tests themselves on individual requests.

    SINDH:

    • Chandka Medical College Hospital – Larkana
    • Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College – Sukkur
    • Peoples Medical University Hospital – Nawabshah
    • Civil Hospital – Karachi
    • Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre – Karachi
    • Lyari General Hospital – Karachi
    • Indus Hospital – Karachi
    • Aga Khan Hospital – Karachi
    • Dow University of Health Sciences, Ojha – Karachi
    • District Health Offices (DHOs) all over the province

    PUNJAB:

    • Services Hospital – Lahore
    • Nishtar Hospital – Multan
    • Benazir Hospital – Rawalpindi

    AZAD JAMMU & KASHMIR:

    • Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan Hospital – Muzaffarabad
    • Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences – Muzaffarabad
    • Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan Hospital – Rawalakot
    • Divisional Headquarters Hospital – Mirpur
    • District Headquarters Hospital – Kotli

    GILGIT BALTISTAN:

    • In Gilgit-Baltistan, citizens can contact district health authorities who will come to their homes to collect samples

    KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA:

    • In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Police Services Hospital has been made the main centre for dealing with coronavirus cases

    Meanwhile, the federal health ministry has set up 1166 as its coronavirus hotline.

  • Karachi seals restaurants to curb coronavirus spread

    In a bid to control the spread of the coronavirus, the Karachi police is sealing large restaurants in the city.

    As per reports, the police have taken action in several areas, including Rashid Minhas Road, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Keamari. They are also taking action against large gatherings of people.

    Earlier, the Sindh government had released advisories asking people to avoid going to crowded places and government officials had been requesting people to refrain from getting together and even celebrating wedding functions.

    On Saturday, Mayor Karachi Wasim Akhtar had announced that recreational sites in Karachi, including the Karachi Zoo, Safari Park and Landhi-Korangi Zoo, have been closed for the public for an indefinite period of time. All marriage halls, shrines and cinemas in the province have also been closed for the next three weeks.

    According to the latest reports, Pakistan has at least 84 confirmed cases of the coronavirus in the country. At 76, Sindh has the highest number of cases. Two people have recovered.

  • Sindh confirms 41 new cases of coronavirus, 94 infections confirmed in Pakistan

    Senator Murtaza Wahab has confirmed 50 new coronavirus cases since his last update — 41 new cases since The Current’s last report — in Sindh, which has taken the total number of infections in Pakistan to 94.

    According to Murtaza, out of the total 76 patients in Sindh, two have recovered while the remaining 74 are being kept in isolation. 25 of the said cases are in Karachi.

    RELATED: Pakistan’s handling of coronavirus among world’s best: WHO country head

    Meanwhile, Lahore has confirmed just one case of the virus, one in Islamabad and Punjab has imposed section 144 in the province, shutting down schools and public places for three weeks. Shrines have also been closed in the province for three weeks.

    https://twitter.com/MusarratCheema/status/1239244547282161666

    READ MORE: Daily Coronavirus Updates

    Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan has stated that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan is personally monitoring the pandemic and its spread in Pakistan.

  • 13 new polio cases reported in a single day in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

    13 new polio cases reported in a single day in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

    In a shocking development, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has reported 13 new cases of type 2 polio cases. This is the highest number of cases to be reported in the province in one day.

    According to the provincial health department, seven of the cases were reported from Khyber tribal district, while one case each was reported from Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Mardan, Nowshera, Bajaur and Lower Dir.

    WATCH: The Current tours Pakistan’s Polio Lab

    A senior public health specialist told a leading newspaper on condition of anonymity, that several Pakistani health specialists had raised the issues over the polio programme, but “they are either sidelined or kicked out of the programme,” also adding that the reason why the virus spreading so fast is that not every child is being reached in infected areas and the government is missing a lot of children that need to be vaccinated.

    “Pakistan has this year reported 25 cVDP2 (type 2) cases, in which Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone had a share of 24,” the report said. Type 2 polio does not cause paralysis but is debilitating. The type 2 virus was eliminated in the country in 2016 and reemerged last year.

    In 2019, Pakistan had reported 22 cases of type two polio cases, including 16 from KP. These were apart from type one polio cases in 2020, which are 29 in the country and 15 in KP.

    “It is a money-driven programme and huge salaries and incentives are being taken by the consultants at the top level. Unfortunately, some people in the programme are very influential and answerable to none and they set their agenda ignoring local needs and requirements,” he maintained, according to The News.

    Another senior official said that after working with the polio programme for many years, he realises that the elimination of polio is not a priority.

  • Quiz: Which provincial identity suits your personality the most?

    Edit quiz
  • Pakistan’s handling of coronavirus among world’s best: WHO country head

    Pakistan’s handling of coronavirus among world’s best: WHO country head

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Head Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala, praised Pakistan’s efforts in tackling coronavirus, noting that the country had come  up “with one of the world’s best National Response Program against the virus”.

    While talking to media in Karachi during his visit to hospitals and labs, he said, “At a time when other countries were reporting cases, Pakistan was keeping the virus at bay, which is something quite praiseworthy.”

    READ MORE: CORONAVIRUS DAILY UPDATES

    “Pakistan has timely come up with one of the world’s best National Response Program against COVID-19 and it is being implemented very effectively. Authorities are doing their job and now it is the responsibility of the people to follow the instructions and take preventive and precautionary measures to avoid contracting the viral disease”, Dr Mahipala said while speaking to The News.

    He inspected the isolation ward of the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) In Karachi and was satisfied with the steps taken by the institute. He also visited Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) Oja Campus and said that their lab and isolation facility was, “a world-class diagnostic and treatment facility”.

    RELATED: Pakistani couple distributes free coronavirus prevention kits in UK

    “At the moment, Pakistan has seven diagnostic labs which are capable of conducting 15,000 tests, but there is a need for more diagnostic facilities in case the number of suspected patients go up,” he said, adding that authorities had even established a mobile diagnostic facility that had been sent to Taftan to test and diagnose suspected cases coming from Iran. Even countries with superior health systems like South Korea and Italy had failed to contain the virus but Pakistani authorities timely responded to the pandemic and took preventive measures earlier on, he said.

    READ MORE: Coronavirus: Indian media reports fake claim, says top Pak army officers infected

    He urged people to wash their hands with soap and use a ‘coughing etiquette’ while coughing. He also said that 67% of the patients who were tested positive with COVID-19 had cough with temperature and difficulty in breathing.

  • Pakistani couple distributes free coronavirus prevention kits in UK

    A Pakistani couple living in the United Kingdom is trying to keep those around them safe amid the coronavirus outbreak. 

    As per reports, the couple, who run a little confectionary shop in the Scottish town of Falkirk, is not only distributing prevention kits in their area but is also preparing those kits. They are distributing the kits free of charge to every elderly person walking inside their shop.

    Jawad and his wife both also make special efforts to hand-deliver kits at the doorsteps of the elderly living in their surroundings.

    Scotland is the second biggest province of the United Kingdom where the reported cases of coronavirus have surged to 85.

    Earlier in the day, a newborn was diagnosed with the disease, making him/her to be the youngest person in the United Kingdom (UK) to have caught coronavirus.

    North Middlesex University Hospital said two patients had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, which has killed more than 5,000 people worldwide.

  • ‘Shukriya Pakistan’: PSL’s foreign players leave early due to coronavirus outbreak

    ‘Shukriya Pakistan’: PSL’s foreign players leave early due to coronavirus outbreak

    With the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring the coronavirus to be a pandemic, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday decided to cut short the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020 and hold the final match of the tournament on March 18 instead of March 23. 29 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported in Pakistan, while two patients have completely recovered.

    According to a press release by the cricketing body, the playoff match has been replaced by the semi-finals, which will be held in Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on March 17; one at 2 pm and the second at 7 pm. The final will also take place at the Gaddafi Stadium at 7 pm on March 18.

    Read more – PCB allows foreign players to leave country amid coronavirus fears

    The PCB also allowed foreign players to leave if they wished to and a couple of the players cut short their trip and headed back to their home countries. Among those who left included Karachi Kings, Alex Hales, Multan Sultans Rilee Rossouw and James Vince; Peshawar Zalmi’s Tom Banton, Carlos Brathwaite, Liam Dawson, Lewis Gregory and Liam Livingstone; Quetta Gladiators Jason Roy and Tymal Mills; and Islamabad United’s Colin Munro, Dale Steyn, Dawid Malan and Luke Ronchi.

    As the foreign players headed back home, they took to social media to thank Pakistan and it’s people for their warmth and hospitality.

    https://twitter.com/AlexHales1/status/1238516816709914627?s=20

    https://twitter.com/daws128/status/1238575735121612800?s=20
    https://www.instagram.com/p/B9rQxI7H1ht/?igshid=1fegn51idpfxo

    Meanwhile, Lahore Qalandars’ Ben Dunk and Quetta Gladiators’ Shane Watson said that they had no qualms staying in Pakistan.

    Watson, while speaking to the media after the match, had said that if Pakistani players can play in Pakistan amid the coronavirus scare, then so can the foreign players.

  • Coronavirus: Indian media reports fake claim, says top Pak army officers infected

    In a rather amusing development amid coronavirus fears, Indian media has quoted a fake Twitter handle of Pakistan’s Health Ministry to report that at least eight officers of Pakistan army, including three lieutenant colonels, two colonels, two brigadiers and one major general, have tested positive for COVID-19.

    “Routine check-up in GHQ [General Headquarters] Rawalpindi by #COVID19 investigation team has found that 3 Lt.colonel, 2 Colonel, 2 Brigadier, 1 Maj.general has been tested positive for coronavirus. #CoronavirusPandemic. [sic]” reports quoted a statement tweeted by an account that has now been suspended by the micro-blogging website.

    The blunder was also highlighted by Uzair Hasan Rizvi of AFPFactCheck.

    A Health Ministry spokesperson also confirmed that the account was fake.

    It was created in September 2019 and was regularly tweeting misleading information regarding the efforts of the government to control coronavirus in the country.

    Meanwhile, the coronavirus tally in Pakistan has reached 29 with Islamabad’s maiden case being reported Saturday. The federal and all provincial governments are taking every possible step to contain the virus.

  • A health emergency

    A health emergency

    Coronavirus has taken the world by storm. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that Europe is now a new epicentre of the global pandemic. According to WHO, more than 132,500 people have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in 123 countries around the world, among which is Pakistan with 29 cases in Sindh, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad.

    At least one infected patient is in a critical condition, reports have claimed.

    “Europe has now become the epicentre of the pandemic, with more reported cases and deaths than the rest of the world combined, apart from China,” said WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “More cases are now being reported every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic.”

    The United States (US) has declared a national emergency due to the spread of coronavirus. Pakistan, too, is taking some measures now that the pandemic is spreading across the globe. Sindh government has been the most vigilant and its health department has proven to be the most efficient during the crisis.

    The way the Sindh government is monitoring people travelling from abroad to setting up isolation wards to test those with coronavirus symptoms is something all other provinces should emulate.

    During his visit to Karachi, WHO country representative in Pakistan, Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala, said that Pakistan had in time come up with one of the world’s best national response programmes against the new coronavirus and it is being implemented very effectively. While there is a fear that other provinces are not equally proactive, which might lead to serious consequences, the good thing is that the federal government is taking the issue seriously and has ordered that educational institutions, cinemas and even marriage halls will remain closed for three weeks.

    Religious congregations and sports and cultural festivals have also been suspended for three weeks. PSL matches will take place without spectators while some foreign players have also left. We need more diagnostic labs as we only have seven at the moment in Pakistan, which can conduct up to 15,000 tests. If the suspected number of cases goes up, we need to be ready. While public gatherings are banned, we hope that the people take the coronavirus outbreak seriously as all of us are at risk.

    We need to take preventive measures in order to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.