Pak to receive more medical supplies from China as coronavirus cases rise to 4,892

Pakistan is set to receive more medical supplies from its all-weather ally China to fight the coronavirus outbreak in the country where the COVID-19 cases have sharply increased to 4,892 and death toll reached 71, officials said on Saturday.

The Ministry of National Health Services reported that five patients died of coronavirus in the last 24 hours.

The total number of cases on Saturday rose to 4,892 with more than 294 fresh infections. The death toll from COVID-19 has reached 71. As many as 762 have recovered while 50 were in critical condition, it said.

According to the data, the worst-hit Punjab province reported 2,336 COVID-19 patients, Sindh 1,318, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 656, Balochistan 220, Gilgit-Baltistan 215, Islamabad 113 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) 34.

At least 61 doctors and paramedics at a major healthcare centre in PoK's Muzaffarabad were placed in quarantine after a 65-year-old asymptomatic patient being treated there for some other chronic ailments tested positive.

"I can confirm you that 29 physicians and 32 other staffers are being quarantined immediately," a senior official was quoted as saying by Dawn.

Meanwhile, China is providing more medical supplies to Pakistan to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

A special plane of Pakistan International Airline (PIA) will arrive from China later Saturday with more medical supplies. It is the second plane to arrive in two days, said Naghmana Hashmi, Pakistan's Ambassador to China.

"PIA special plane with 50 donated ventilators, equip & PPEs (personal protective equipment) left Chengdu for Islamabad today. One plane of relief goods from Beijing went yesterday," she tweeted.

Earlier on March 27, the Khunjerab Pass between Pakistan and China was opened for a day to receive Chinese medical supplies.

Pakistan and China describe their relations as an all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and have firmly supported each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests.

Authorities in Pakistan have so far conducted 57,836 tests, including 2,457 in the last one day.

The official data showed that 52 per cent of patients were those who had travelled abroad while 48 per cent were local transmissions.

So far Lahore with 21 per cent share of total infections is on the top as the most infected city in Pakistan, followed by Karachi with 18 per cent infections.

But a Sindh health official expressed concern on Friday that Karachi was vulnerable due to its dense population and increase in the rare of local transmission.

Three districts out of six of the metropolis have over 100 cases each, with the East District having 185 positive cases, Central District 144 and the South District 135 cases.

Pakistan Medical Association's Karachi chapter general secretary, Dr Abdul Ghafoor Shoro, said residents in poor localities are roaming, posing a serious threat to them and others.

“I believe there would be far more cases in other areas, such as Keamari, Lyari, Korangi and Orangi Town,” he said.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday chaired a meeting with officials to discuss ways to bring back about 40,000 Pakistanis stranded in various countries.

Pakistan is making frantic efforts to tackle the pandemic.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned the people to follow official guidelines on self-isolation or the virus would spread further.

The National Command and Operation Centre on COVID-19 on Friday directed all provincial governments to reopen their airports to avoid chaos in the federal capital. Since the provincial governments closed their airports in the wake of the pandemic, all flights bringing Pakistanis from abroad were landing at Islamabad International Airport, Dawn reported.

Citing Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Hamza Shafqaat, the paper said that the National Command and Operation Centre had issued an order to all the provinces to reopen their airports so that Pakistanis coming back to the country could be distributed among them.

The airports in the provinces will reopen by April 13, the DC said, adding there was no flight arriving in the capital on April 10 and 12. However, three flights are scheduled to land in the capital on April 11 with 200 passengers.

The government has re-imposed a ban on the export of all anti-malarial drugs, four days after withdrawing the ban on the export of these drugs.

The ban that has been imposed with immediate effect will remain in place until further decision of the National Coordination Comm­ittee on COVID-19, according to the commerce ministry on Friday.

The demand for export of anti-malaria drugs especially hydroxychloroquine gained importance after US President Donald Trump claimed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had app­roved the use of "very powerful” drug Chloroquine to treat coronavirus patients.