LAHORE: With surge in fatalities on account of Covid-19, Punjab has reported 45 deaths across the province during the last 24 hours taking the provincial tally of deaths to 3036. Out of 15,356 tests conducted across the province, about 543 fresh cases of coronavirus were reported in the province taking the tally of cases to 119, 578. This showed positivity rate of 3.53%. During the last 24 hours, 156 recoveries were reported across the province taking the number of recovered patients to 98,601.

On the other hand, another 1,863 people have recovered from the coronavirus across Pakistan, marking a week of reporting more than 1,000 recoveries. The country's total recoveries have risen to 343,286. The government's database for tracking the spread of the virus in the country shows that 2,165 patients are in critical condition.

As per data made available, the Lahore has so far reported 58,784 Covid-19 cases and 1211 deaths followed by Rawalpindi with 10,815 cases and 513 deaths, Multan with 8,029 cases and 277 deaths, Faisalabad with 6,661 cases and 263 deaths, Gujranwala with 4,187 cases and 89 deaths and Gujrat has reported 3,360 cases and 49 deaths so far.

Punjab Health Minister Yasmin Rashid in a briefing has warned a strong and severe second wave of corona pandemic in Punjab and called upon the people to observe utmost caution till the introduction of new vaccine. Expressing increase in Covid-19 cases and deaths in Punjab, she said, "We have continuously asked the people to follow SOPs in the last few months as corona pandemic had not ended; now we have seen a sudden rise in the number of cases. Patients with moderate to severe symptoms are admitted in hospitals only."

On the other hand, sources claimed that around 1000 people are admitted to the hospitals across Punjab out of whom over 144 are on ventilators and 470 are on oxygenated beds and over 16 thousand patients are in quarantine/self-isolation.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020