The nationwide tally of coronavirus cases in Pakistan has soared to 40,151, with 1,352 new cases reported during the last 24 hours.
Overall 14,584 cases have so far been detected in Punjab, 15,590 in Sindh, 5,847 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 2,544 in Baluchistan, 527 in Gilgit Baltistan, 947 in Islamabad, and 112 in Azad Jammu Kashmir.
A total of 11,341 patients have so far recovered from the virus whilst the death toll stands at 873, with 39 new deaths reported during the last 24 hours.
Six doctors and 10 nurses at the Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) in Pakistan’s garrison city of Rawalpindi have been isolated after coming in contact with two suspected patients of Covid-19, one of whom died on Saturday.
The Covid-19 respiratory disease is caused by the coronavirus.
The deceased was a 38-year-old resident of Sargodha, while the other patient is a resident of Rawalpindi.
Six nurses in the paediatric intensive care unit (ICU) were isolated earlier after they treated a child who had contracted Covid-19.
The ICU in question has not been sealed yet, a hospital official said.
The official said the hospital authorities allowed the deceased’s relatives to take the body to Sargodha in a private vehicle, where the burial was carried out without taking any precautionary measures.
The deceased was brought to the BBH from Sargodha by his family in critical condition, with difficulty in breathing.
Doctors admitted him to the ICU instead of the high dependency unit.
Six doctors and 10 nurses attended to the patient in different shifts without being provided personal protective equipment (PPE).
During that time, the patient was tested for the coronavirus.
After the patient died, the relatives took the body to Sargodha without adhering to Punjab’s standard operating procedures (SOPs) for suspected Covid-19 cases and waiting for the final test results.
The hospital official said doctors and nurses have been isolated as a precautionary measure.
The BBH’s focal person for Covid-19, Dr Mohamed Inayat, when contacted, said that the hospital’s management is working with dedication and commitment, and is fighting the coronavirus around the clock.
He said the test results of the deceased patient are still bring awaited, while the other patient had tested positive for Covid-19 and three nurses have been isolated.
Dr Inayat said both patients were brought to the surgery department, where they were referred to him with requests for screening.
“We screened both the patients, took their samples, and sent them for testing in laboratories,” he said.
To a question, he said that doctors and hospital staff are attending to patients according to the government’s SOPs.
“We routinely test doctors and nurses for Covid-19 before they go home after 15 days of continuous duty, and when they return from 15 days of rest,” he said.
The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB) has also directed 26 staffers to quarantine themselves at home after they were found to have been in contact with a colleague in the tax branch who was diagnosed with Covid-19.
Chaklala Cantonment Board vice-president Raja Irfan Imtiaz has tested positive for the disease and is isolated at home, while RCB vice-president Malik Munir was taken to a private hospital on Saturday with Covid-19 symptoms.
Also on Saturday, 37 new patients in Rawalpindi took the tally of Covid-19 cases to 1,616, while nine patients were discharged from hospitals after recovering.
The 146 passengers quarantined in the district have been allowed to leave after testing negative.
Commissioner Captain (retired) Mohamed Mehmood said that the number of new patients reported in the Rawalpindi division is falling, and no deaths have been reported in two days.