Pakistan's coronavirus tally rises to 21

Islamabad: A 31-year-old resident of Gilgit Baltistan was tested positive for novel coronavirus, bringing Pakistan's total number of cases to 21, a health official said on Thursday.

The new victim returned from Iran on February 25, said government spokesperson Faizullah Firaq.

The patient was under treatment at the Skardu hospital, he added.

With the new case, the total number of patients in Gilgit Baltistan reached three, which is second highest after 15 victims in Sindh province. Two persons in Islamabad and one in Balochistan have also been tested positive.

Pakistan saw a sudden increase in coronavirus infections on Tuesday when a dozen new cases were reported across the country.

On Wednesday, a 14-year-old boy from Skardu tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The first confirmed case in GB was of a 45-year-old woman, who arrived from Iran a few days to Gilgit before she was diagnosed.

Meanwhile, Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab said that the provincial government was not hiding anything from the public.

"I want to make it clear, the Sindh government is not hiding any information about coronavirus or the number of patients [in the province]. The government is sharing information with the people as soon as it is received, he said.

Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani said that the government would reopen schools from Monday.

However, Balochistan Education Minister Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind said that schools in the province will remain closed March



31.

"Action will be taken against schools who do not comply with the decision. (The decision) has been taken after consultation with the health ministry, he said.

But Balochistan Private Schools Grand Alliance rejected the decision to close schools for another 15 days.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office rejected reports that an official at Pakistan's embassy in Afghanistan was diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.

Separately, panic spread in Lahore after rumours that coronavirus case was reported in the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS).

LUMS Vice Chancellor Arshad Ahmed said that reports of a coronavirus case were not true.

So far, no coronavirus related death has been reported in Pakistan. One of the COVID-19 patients in Karachi has recovered and was allowed to go home on Saturday.

All the patients have contracted the virus from abroad. There is no evidence of local spread as yet.

The medical experts have warned that the virus could easily go out of hands and turn into an epidemic. They urged the health authorities to enforce strict monitoring of passengers coming into Pakistan by air and sea routes.

The deadly virus that first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year has claimed over 4,600 lives and infected more than 124,330 people across 118 countries and territories.

China remains the hardest-hit with more than 80,000 infections and 3,100 deaths.