Pakistan’s coronavirus tally rises to 94

PTI, Mar 16, 2020, 1:15 PM IST

Islamabad: Forty-one new cases of the novel coronavirus surfaced in Pakistan, bringing the total number of COVID-19 infections in the country to 94 on Monday, an official said.

As of Sunday, the country reported 53 coronavirus cases.

All new cases were diagnosed in the southern Sindh province where government spokesman Murtaza Wahab said that they were among those who were shifted from Taftaan on Iran’s border.

“More results have come in so the total patients have reached 76 in Sindh. Out of these 76 patients, 2 have recovered & the remaining 74 are being kept in isolation,” he said.

With the latest addition, the total number in the country reached 94.

Meanwhile, the government is taking steps to contain the pandemic as authorities in Punjab province converted all public sector universities’ hostels into quarantine centres as an immediate arrangement.

Officials said that universities were informed in the province to clean all hostels and shift the belongings of students, if there were any, to storerooms after properly tagging them for identity.

The deadly virus, which originated in China’s Wuhan city in December, has claimed over 6,500 lives and infected more than 169,000 people over 135 countries and territories.

China remains the hardest-hit with 80,860 infections and 3,213 deaths. After China, Italy and Iran are the two worst-affected countries.

Pakistan’s high-powered National Security Committee on Friday took several decision to boost efforts to defeat the threat posed by the virus.

Among other things, it decided to close down the western border with Afghanistan and Iran.

It also ordered the closure of all educational institutions in Pakistan till April 5 in view of the virus outbreak.