Covid-19 claims 15 more lives in Punjab

With 564 fresh infections, total coronavirus cases exceed 113,450

LAHORE:

The coronavirus pandemic claimed 15 more lives in the province on Saturday.

As many as 564 fresh infections were reported in Punjab.

According to a spokesperson for Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD), the total number of cases in the province exceeded 113,450, while the total number of deaths was recorded at 2,826.

The P&SHD spokesperson confirmed that 221 new virus cases were reported in the provincial capital, three in Kasur, three in Nankana Sahib, 95 in Rawalpindi, one in Attock, one in Chakwal, five in Jhelum, 10 virus cases in Gujranwala, four in Mandi Bahauddin and six virus cases were reported in Sialkot.

Moreover, one coronavirus case was reported in Narowal, four virus cases were diagnosed in Gujrat, 10 virus cases were reported in Faisalabad, 11 in Toba Tek Singh, 55 in Multan, one in Vehari, 13 in Khanewal, four in Dera Ghazi Khan, three in Lodhran, two in Chiniot, 26 in Sargodha, four in Mianwali, four in Khushab, two in Jhang, 40 in Bahawalpur, three in Bhakkar, seven in Layyah, one in Rahim Yar Khan, two in Muzaffargarh, two in Rajanpur, four in Sahiwal, five in Okara, one in Pakpattan and 10 new cases had been reported in Bahawalnagar district during the last 24 hours.

The Punjab health department had conducted 1,835,788 tests for the disease so far.

As many as 97,928 confirmed patients of the disease have recovered across Punjab.

The Punjab health department urged the citizens to follow the government-mandated Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for their protection and cover their faces with masks. The people should wash their hands with soap several times in a day to protect themselves from Covid-19, it said.

Meanwhile, the city district administration sealed 38 shops in various parts of the provincial capital for not following the SOPs with regard to the rebounding virus.

According to a spokesperson for the district administration, its teams inspected at least 298 points, detected 34 violations and imposed Rs38,000 worth of fines on the violators.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2020.