LAHORE: There is no let-up in coronavirus spread and causalities, as another 56 fatalities were reported across the province during the last 24 hours, taking the provincial tally of death to 6731.
Out of 17,290 Covid-19 tests conducted during the last 24 hours, as many as 2025 fresh virus cases were reported across the province with positivity rate of 11.71% from previous 11.50%, taking the provincial tally of cases to 237,594.
With the recovery of 856 more virus patients, the number of recovered patients in the province has reached 197,841.
In Lahore, 1019 fresh Covid-19 cases and 22 deaths were reported during the last 24 hours. However, there is burden of patients in the public and private sector hospitals in the provincial metropolis. About 80% ICUs are filled with corona patients.
As per breakup of corona cases and deaths in major cities of the province, Lahore has so far reported 126393 cases and 2760 deaths, Rawalpindi 19557 cases and 1072 deaths, Faisalabad 14269 cases and 658 deaths, Multan 11336 cases and 438 deaths, D.G.Khan 2514 cases and 70 deaths, Bahawalpur 5188 cases and 168 deaths, Gujranwala 6391 cases and 204 deaths, Gujrat 6077 cases and 99 deaths, Rahim Yar Khan 3272 cases and 154 deaths, Sargodha 4542 cases and 174 deaths, Sheikhupura 2396 cases and 67 deaths and Sialkot 5626 cases and 194 deaths.
Health professionals have urged the people to wear facemasks and stay in their homes and adopt social distancing because the situation can aggravate if the SOPs are not implemented.
Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid in a briefing said, “The services of healthcare workers are exemplary during the corona pandemic. I salute healthcare workers who lost their lives while serving on the frontline. The government is channelizing all resources to control the pandemic.”
Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar in a video message stressed the need for taking precautionary measures and following guidelines to address issues of health and safety during the corona pandemic.
The governor also visited the UHS and said on the occasion that health is a fundamental human right and every person deserved to live a healthy life. The World Health Organization’s Punjab head Dr Jamshaid Ahmed, while addressing a webinar here at the University of Health Sciences (UHS), called for urgent action to eliminate health inequities and mobilize action to attain better health for all and leaving no one behind.
Dr Jamshaid Ahmed maintained that discrimination ran counter to global commitments to reach universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It undermines investment in health systems, deters people from accessing or seeking health services, divides, dis-empowers and deprives the people of their dignity,” he added.
He said that there was a need to address the underlying causes of discrimination within and beyond the health system. “This can only be achieved by working across sectors, agencies and more actively engaging with civil society organizations representing both health workers and affected communities,” he opined. The webinar was organized by the UHS Public Health department in connection with World Health Day, commemorated every year on April 7.
The theme this year is “Building a Fairer, Healthier World”.
UHS vice-chancellor Professor Javed Akram said: “The Covid-19 pandemic has had grave consequences for people already experiencing inequities. This pandemic has disproportionately impacted those people already socially, economically or geographically disadvantaged, and evidence shows a worsening trend of disparities and inequity across the world.”
He said that scaling up vaccine production and equitable distribution remained the major barrier to ending the acute stage of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Senior Joint Secretary, Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, Islamabad, Niaz Muhammad Khan, highlighted various components of the Ehsaas Programme.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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