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There are 193 confirmed cases in Pakistan of coronavirus.
PSL’s Karachi King’s player Alex Hales is being tested for coronavirus, confirms Rameez Raja. He showed symptoms of the virus after he reached England and is currently in isolation. All the broadcasters and cricketer affiliated with the PSL will have to undergo coronavirus tests before heading home – whether that is in Pakistan or outside of it.
The final matches of the PSL were postponed indefinitely amidst the coronavirus crisis.
Raja confirms the news and also says that he and other members of the PSL are being tested for the virus. Earlier, Geo Reporter Arfa Feroz Zake had confirmed the news.
The total cases of the coronavirus in Pakistan has hit 193.
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A suspected patient of the new coronavirus — COVID-19 — on Tuesday passed away at Lahore’s Mayo Hospital where he was under treatment since developing symptoms following his return from Iran.
While some reports quote official sources as saying that the patient tested positive for the virus — marking the first fatality in Pakistan due to the global pandemic, others contradict the claim, saying the patient died of liver failure.
An official confirmation of the circumstances surrounding the suspected coronavirus patient’s death was tweeted by Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar later in the day.
A video available with The Current showed the deceased being brought out of the hospital in a coffin by staff in hazmat suits.
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The individual had returned from Iran via the Taftan border crossing and spent 14 days in quarantine, reports said.
While Ministry of National Health Services had earlier reportedly confirmed the death, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said the deceased patient, who was a native of Hafizabad, had been brought to the hospital on Monday night and the results of his tests were still awaited.
She added that the deceased was not the first and only confirmed patient of the virus in Lahore, who is still in isolation at the same hospital.
The minister said that the deceased patient’s blood samples were sent for testing while he had been kept in quarantined isolation at Mayo Hospital.
The deceased had cleared screening upon arriving in the country.
This was a developing story
A 36-year-old man, who was discharged from one of the makeshift hospitals built to contain the coronavirus outbreak, has died of respiratory failure in Wuhan, according to a report by a Shanghai-based news portal.
South China Morning Post quoted the news portal as reporting that Li Liang had been admitted to the hospital built to treat patients with mild and moderate symptoms on February 12, according to his wife, surnamed Mei. He was discharged two weeks later with instructions to stay in a quarantine hotel for 14 days.
Mei said her husband was not feeling well two days after leaving the hospital, with a dry mouth and gaseous stomach. On March 2, Li said he felt sick and was sent to a hospital, where he was later certified dead.
The death certificate issued by the Wuhan health commission said the direct cause was COVID-19, and listed respiratory blockage and failure as the symptoms which could have led to his death.
Since the death earlier this month, Fangcang Hospital — one of Wuhan’s makeshift facilities — has been issuing emergency notices saying that more discharged patients have been readmitting after falling ill again. The hospital is currently conducting antibody tests on all patients before discharging them, to ensure they are fully recovered.
Last month, Xinhua — the official state-run Chinese press agency — had reported that the country had discharged a total of 36,117 patients from hospitals after recovery.
The criteria for deciding if a patient has recovered varied between provinces, but in general, Chinese hospitals required people to test negative twice in a row, and to show no obvious symptoms such as a fever. Patients who were released were supposed to check in with their hospital and could face retesting — which was when some tested positive again.
The Current had also quoted a key Chinese respiratory disease expert as saying that some discharged coronavirus patients could still carry the virus and be infectious, potentially posing another complication to Beijing’s efforts to control the epidemic.
Zhao Jianping, the head of the coronavirus containment team in worst-affected Hubei province, had said a minority of patients who were discharged from hospital after tests showed they were negative for the virus later tested positive again. China counts patients whose throat or nose swabs show up positive for the virus in a nucleic acid test, and those whose CT scans show lesions in their lungs, as infected cases.
Pakistan on Monday recorded its biggest single-day spike in coronavirus infections, taking the tally to 184, amid reports of ineffective quarantine procedures many of those are reported to be among those who had been held at a quarantine camp at the country’s Taftan border crossing with Iran.
Dera Ghazi Khan authorities confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus on Monday, raising the provincial count to two cases. The patient, who was among the 814 persons quarantined at a facility in DG Khan, had arrived from the Taftan border. DG Khan Health CEO said that the patient, a resident of Layyah, had been shifted to Indus Hospital Muzaffargarh.
DG Khan Commissioner Naseem Sadiq said that another five patients, suspected of having contracted the virus, had also been shifted to Indus Hospital Muzaffargarh
With an addition of 47 new cases, the tally of coronavirus cases in Sindh reached 150. According to a spokesperson for the Sindh health department, 119 of the cases arrived in Sukkur from Taftan, 30 are from Karachi while one is from Hyderabad. Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab said that the “exponential increase is largely due to the recent inflow of people brought in from Taftan after a purported quarantine”.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah directed the provincial police chief to carry out raids on stores and pharmacies that are selling overpriced tissue papers, hand sanitisers and anti-septics.
The Sindh government is also contemplating closing restaurants and tea shops by 9 pm, as the number of coronavirus cases in the province continues to rise. “I am now adopting a zero-tolerance policy,” Chief Minister Shah was quoted as saying in a statement by his media consultant. “If our people stay out and visit eateries until late at night, I will shut down restaurants and hotels,” Shah added.
However, as per the government data, no deaths due to the coronavirus have been recorded.
Prime Minister Imran Khan also chaired a meeting of the country’s national coordination committee on COVID-19. No major announcements were made following the meeting.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) also reported its first cases of coronavirus, confirming 15 positive cases. KP Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra tweeted that 15 out of 19 individuals who arrived in the province from Taftan have tested positive for the virus.
“They are being well looked after in quarantine in an isolated facility in Dera Ismail Khan,” he wrote.
‘DON’T PANIC’:
With the coronavirus scare intensifying due to the sudden spike in the number of infections in Pakistan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said that the government has extended its emergency measures, including travel restrictions and a ban on public gatherings to the entire country to tackle the coronavirus.
Addressing a press conference, Dr Mirza said that there was no immediate need to lockdown cities in the country as the situation is “still under control”.
He assured the public that the current preventive measures adopted by the health ministry are sufficient to control the spread of the novel coronavirus in Pakistan, adding, that measures would be tightened up if the situation turns more serious.
A shopkeeper was arrested for selling hand sanitizers at inflated prices in Karachi.
As per reports, the police had raided a pharmacy in Dolmen Mall, Clifton and arrested a shopkeeper who was allegedly selling sanitizers at more than four times the original market price. He was arrested for violating Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
As the number of coronavirus cases hit 184, there is a shortage of hand sanitizers and face masks at the grocery stores across the country.
People have been directed to use hand sanitizer to protect themselves from the pandemic.
Earlier, the police had arrested another shopkeeper for selling a bottle of hand sanitizer at Rs 1,000. A case was registered against him and 288 bottles of sanitizer were seized from his possession.
Karachi police arrest a man who was posing as a doctor and selling a ‘vaccine’ for the treatment of coronavirus in Defence.
“Defence police has arrested one fake doctor, Syed Didar Ali, who was malignantly and fraudulently selling fake vaccine for COVID-19 at West Point Clinic, DHA Phase 2 Extension,” said Clifton Superintendent of Police Imran Mirza.
READ MORE: Need authentic coronavirus updates? Follow these Twitter accounts
A first information report (FIR) was registered against the suspect under Sections 419 (cheating by impersonation) and 420 (cheating or dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
RELATED: KP CONFIRMS ITS FIRST 15 CORONAVIRUS CASES
To date, there is no vaccine for coronavirus and has yet to be developed. As of now, countries are still scrambling to get enough test kits to confirm the virus in suspected cases.
There are 183 confirmed cases in Pakistan with 150 cases in Sindh, 15 in KP, 10 in Balochistan, one in Punjab, two in Islamabad and five in Gilgit Baltistan.
The health minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has confirmed that 15 people out of the 19 who arrived to the province from Taftan, Iran have tested positive for coronavirus. They have been put in quarantine in DI Khan.
READ MORE: HOURLY CORONAVIRUS UPDATES
This recent development comes after a suspected coronavirus patient died in Peshawar this morning. The patient was awaiting results of his coronavirus test but tested negative for the virus.
RELATED: HOW TO GET YOURSELF TESTED FOR CORONAVIRUS IN PAKISTAN
The total tally of the cases in Pakistan has increased to 118 nationwide with 88 in Sindh, 10 in Balochistan, 1 in Punjab, 5 in Gilgit Baltistan and 2 in Islamabad.
The government has launched a new chat system to provide basic information on the new coronavirus — COVID-19 –, Tania Aidrus tweeted.
The chat system named ‘Pakistan Government Official Corona Chatbot’ can be accessed through the Facebook page of the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations & Coordination.
A chatbot is an auto-generated message that a user receives from a digital media platform.
This new digital media service can answer all basic questions regarding coronavirus. Moreover, it can guide you about the preventive measures that should be taken to reduce the risks of contracting the virus, and suggest you see your nearest facility for screening if you are experiencing any of the virus symptoms.
For more information, Facebook users can visit the page of Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Islamabad.
With the coronavirus spreading fast, misinformation on the matter is also spreading with the same speed causing panic among citizens.
For the most authentic information on the matter, follow the following Twitter accounts.
Meanwhile, The Current is also posting all updates regarding the coronavirus on its live blog. You can visit the blog here: