At least 92 health professionals have tested positive for the coronavirus across the country in the last two days, increasing the number of infected doctors, nurses, paramedics and support staff to 345, reports said yesterday.
According to a national health ministry official, the number increased to 345 from 253 on Thursday after new cases were detected among the medical community.
The official said doctors are the most affected class of healthcare professionals when it comes to the infections, with more than 165 doctors across the country under treatment.
The rest include 131 paramedical and support staff, as well as 41 nurses.
Apart from the confirmed cases, more than 1,500 doctors, nurses, paramedics and those with whom they came into contact are in quarantine.
“Many are waiting for their test results after coming into contact with the health professionals who have already tested positive,” the official added.
The official said that most of the cases of coronavirus among health professionals have been reported from Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, while a few cases have also been reported from Sindh and the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).
The virus has claimed the lives of four health professionals in the country so far: ENT specialist Prof Mohamed Javed, who passed away at Peshawar’s Hayatabad Medical Complex, Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro from Karachi, Dr Osama Riaz from Gilgit-Baltistan, and a senior nurse at Gujrat’s Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Hospital.
Giving a breakdown of the health professionals afflicted with the novel coronavirus, the health ministry official said 93 have been infected in Punjab: 55 doctors, 16 nurses, and 22 paramedics and support staff.
The official added that the Nishtar Medical Hospital in Multan and the Punjab Institute of Cardiology in Lahore were the worst affected health facilities in Punjab, as most of the infected health professionals in that province worked at those two facilities.
He said that 72 health professionals have been found infected with Covid-19 in Sindh: 28 doctors, 17 nurses and 27 paramedics and support staff. 
Most of the affected work at public and private hospitals in Karachi: the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, the Civil Hospital Karachi, the Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Accident Emergency and Trauma Centre, the Indus Hospital, the Ojha Campus of the Dow University of Health Sciences, the Aga Khan University Hospital, and the Liaquat National Hospital.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 72 health professionals are infected: 35 doctors, six nurses, and 31 paramedics and support staff.
These worked at the Hayatabad Medical Complex, Lady Reading Hospital, and Khyber Teaching Hospital, with some cases also been reported from Abbottabad and other cities of the province.
In Baluchistan, 55 health professionals have been found infected with coronavirus: 32 doctors, three nurses and 20 paramedics and support staff.
These worked at the Bolan Medical Complex and the Civil Hospital Quetta.
Thirty-two health professionals, mostly from Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and Poly Clinic Islamabad, have been found infected with Covid-19 in the ICT: 13 doctors, seven nurses, and 12 paramedics and support staff.
Most of the health professionals infected with the virus in the GB region were paramedics and support staff, whose number is 16, while the only doctor who was found infected died during the treatment.
The official said that in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, four health professionals – one doctor and three paramedical staff members – have been found infected with the coronavirus, which causes the Covid-19 disease.