LAHORE: There is no let up in fresh cases of corona, as Punjab has reported 489 fresh cases and 17 deaths across the province taking the provincial tally of cases to 111,626 and deaths to 2509.
During the last 24 hours, 15,003 tests were conducted while with 35 more recoveries, the tally of recovered patients reached 97,824.
Lahore remained on top with 55480 cases so far followed by Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat and Sialkot with 9632, 7403, 6413, 4106, 3233 and 2671 cases, respectively.
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has appealed to the citizens to follow SOPs to remain safe from the second corona wave.
In a statement, he appealed to the citizens to wear facemasks while going outside. The government is monitoring the corona situation on a daily basis and every step will be taken to protect the people, he said. The people should also observe necessary precautions and adopt social distancing, he added.
“We have 2400 ventilators and 10,000 Oxygenated beds available in all hospitals of Punjab; we are well prepared and our doctors have now understood the disease a great deal,” an official in health department,” he said.
“By wearing masks, the risk of spread can be reduced by 70 %,” health professionals said, adding: “The second wave of Covid-19 appears to be much dangerous given the visible increase in related deaths of younger patients.” During the second spike of the infection, an alarming surge has been witnessed in the patients visiting hospitals complaining of short breath, which they term a worrying sign, they added.
As per data made available, during the month of October, total 134 deaths were reported in Punjab, while in the first half of November, the virus claimed the lives of 110 patients.
Moreover, co-chairman of the Corona Experts Adviser Group (CEAG) Prof Dr Asad Aslam confirmed that only two state-run health facilities were providing services to the Covid-19 patients so far during the second wave. However, he said, the Punjab government has alerted other public sector hospitals as well, asking them to make preparations for making their respective intensive care units (ICUs)/high dependency units (HDUs) functional again for Covid patients in the coming days.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020