LAHORE: The novel coronavirus continued to played havoc, as more 58 fatalities including 33 in Lahore were reported across the province during the last 24 hours taking the provincial tally of death toll to 6851. Out of 25,871 Covid-19 tests conducted during the last 24 hours, as many as 2,711 fresh virus cases were reported across the province with positivity rate of 10.47 percent from previous 14.02 percent taking the provincial tally of cases to 243,295.

With the recovery of 1,188 more virus patients, the number of recovered patients in the province has reached to 199,941. In Lahore, 1,347 fresh Covid-19 cases and 33 deaths were reported during the last 24 hours. There is rush of patients in the public and private sector hospitals in the provincial metropolis. About 80 percent ICUs are filled with corona patients.

As per break up of corona cases and deaths in major cities of the province, Lahore has so far reported 129,315 cases and 2,821 deaths, Rawalpindi 20,028 cases and 1,086 deaths, Faisalabad 14,603 cases and 671 deaths, Multan 11,538 cases and 444 deaths, D G Khan 2,546 cases and 70 deaths, Bahawalpur 5,321 cases and 172 deaths, Gujranwala 6,535 cases and 215 deaths, Gujrat 6,149 cases and 99 deaths, Rahim Yar Khan 3,391 cases and 154 deaths, Sargodha 4,715 cases and 174 deaths, Sheikhupura 2,458 cases and 69 deaths and Sialkot reported 5,744 cases and 196 deaths.

On the other hand, as many as 173,028 patients contracted with Covid-19 have so far been recovered completely and discharged from 200 public sector hospitals being run under the control of Specialized and Primary & Secondary Healthcare departments, while 737 corona patients recovered during last 24 hours.

A spokesman of the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department (SHC&MED) said here on Friday that 6,286 beds are reserved in all government owned hospitals for corona patients, out of which 4,075 beds are unoccupied. Likewise, 1,568 beds reserved in government hospitals of the provincial metropolis and 793 beds are vacant so far, he added.

The spokesman further said that in the wake of surge in corona infection, the SHC&MED has arranged 2,978 beds in Isolation wards of all government hospitals in the province, out of which, 2,317 beds are vacant. However, 475 beds for corona patients are reserved in isolation wards set up in government hospitals of Lahore and 339 beds are unoccupied. In addition, 2,671 beds are also reserved in HDU for patients suffering from Covid-19 in all the hospitals of Punjab government and 1451 beds are vacant while, in hospitals of Lahore, 855 beds reserved in HDU and 399 beds are unoccupied, the spokesman added.

The spokesman further said that the SHC&MED has arranged 637 ventilators for corona patients in all hospitals of which 330 ventilators are under use while 307 are unoccupied. Around 239 ventilators are reserved in Lahore hospitals, of which 184 are occupied and 55 ventilators are vacant.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021