Tag: covid 19

  • Coronavirus: Four Chinese nationals test positive at Lahore’s Services Hospital

    Coronavirus: Four Chinese nationals test positive at Lahore’s Services Hospital

    Four individuals have tested positive out of the 19 Chinese nationals who were tested for the coronavirus at Lahore’s Services Hospital late on Sunday.

    According to Dunya News, the Chinese nationals were working on various projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The patients were shifted to an isolation ward of the hospital.

    According to hospital administration, the Chinese nationals will be kept in the isolation ward for a period of 14 days to stop the spread of the virus.

    Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country rose to 892 after Punjab and Sindh reported new cases in the province on Tuesday.

    According to Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar, there are 176 confirmed cases of the virus in Dera Ghazi Khan, 51 in Lahore, five in Gujrat, six in Gujranwala, three in Jhelum, two each in Rawalpindi and Multan and one case each in Faisalabad, Mandi Bahauddin, Rahim Yar Khan and Sargodha.

    Sindh remains the worst affected province by the coronavirus in the country so far, with a total of 399 coronavirus cases. In Karachi alone, the numbers of cases of the virus are 130, with the majority said to be cases of “local transmission”.

    According to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Health Department, the number of cases in the province stands at 38 after four new patients were reported earlier this week, while the number of reported cases in Gilgit-Baltistan (GM) is 80.

    Balochistan has reported 108 cases, while one case has been reported from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). In Islamabad, 15 patients have been confirmed to have contracted the virus, Geo reported.

    The country has also reported six deaths from the virus.

  • ‘Yeh corona kaat-ta kaisay hai?’ Dawn quotes CM Buzdar as asking experts

    ‘Yeh corona kaat-ta kaisay hai?’ Dawn quotes CM Buzdar as asking experts

    With the new coronavirus — COVID-19 — making its way to Punjab and leaving at least 33 infected, people are criticising the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar-led administration for “lagging behind other provinces” such as Sindh where strict measures are being taken by the provincial government to contain the pandemic.

    Amid accusations of what people say is the “inability” of the Punjab government to take the global pandemic seriously, Dawn has quoted CM Buzdar as asking experts that “how does coronavirus bite”.

    LIVE UPDATES: Coronavirus in Pakistan

    “A few days ago Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar received a detailed briefing on coronavirus from relevant experts and officials. The purpose was to provide him all the information he required as the chief executive of the largest province, so he could make the right decisions. At the end of the briefing, the chief minister asked a question innocently: ‘Yeh corona kaat-ta kaisay hai? (how does this corona bite)?’,” the report by the English daily’s resident editor, Fahd Husain, claimed.

    It further said that “nothing could better illustrate the state of affairs in Punjab today than this simple question asked by the head of the province about a crisis that has nothing simple about it”.

    READ MORE: Coronavirus: Is Buzdar administration failing Punjab?

    “The gap between the magnitude of the challenge that COVID-19 has thrown and the scale of the response so far is wider than anyone would like to imagine. The reasons are far more numerous than the capacity issues of one provincial chief minister,” the report said.

    While the national tally of infections for now stands at 302 with at least two fatalities, globally, 158 countries have been affected, nearly 7,000 people have died and more than 190,000 are infected by COVID-19.

    The epicentre of the outbreak has now shifted to Europe, which is recording a rapid rise in new cases every day.