LAHORE: There is no respite in fatalities as well as fresh Covid-19 infections, as out of 18399 tests conducted across the province in the last 24 hours, Punjab has reported 28 more deaths and 1295 new infections taking the provincial tally of death toll to 12319 and coronavirus cases to 418,196.

Out of 28 deaths reported across Punjab, 14 were reported in Lahore, 06 in Rawalpindi, two in Faisalabad and one each in D G Khan, Gujranwala, Muzaffargarh and Sheikhupura taking the death toll in these districts to 4857, 1958, 1227, 182, 555, 349 and 151, respectively.

With the recovery of 2026 more virus patients, the number of recovered patients in the province reached to 382,179. On the other hand, as many as 3,897 coronavirus recoveries were reported across the country taking the tally of recoveries to 1112236 showing the recovery rate of 91.5 percent.

As per breakup of corona cases and deaths in major cities of the province, Lahore has so far reported 210658 cases and 4857 deaths, Rawalpindi 36938 cases and 1958 deaths, Faisalabad 25107 cases and 1227 deaths, Multan 21241 cases and 893 deaths, Sahiwal 4087 cases and 100 deaths, Gujranwala 9923 cases and 555 deaths, Muzaffargarh 2919 cases and 349 deaths, Rahim Yar Khan 7748 cases and 290 deaths, Bahawalpur 9787 cases and 265 deaths, D G Khan 4809 cases and 182 deaths, Sargodha 10165 cases and 322 deaths, Sheikhupura 4650 cases and 151 deaths and Sialkot reported 8488 cases and 244 deaths.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid in a meeting said, "We are battling the corona pandemic with all full commitment; corona SOPs are being enforced in letter and spirit. So far more than 39 million have been vaccinated in the province."

Former Governor Punjab and Chairman of the Board of Management (BoM) of the Institute of Public Health, Lt Gen Khalid Maqbool (retd) said in a meeting that every step would be taken to uplift the educational and research facilities in the IPH, to make this institution of international standard, enabling it to play its pivotal role in prevention and control of diseases and to improve public health indicators.

Moreover, Punjab Social Security Institutions (PESSI) has decided to affiliate its hospitals with private medical colleges and approval to this effect has been formally sought from the governing body of the institution.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021