Corona outbreak in Pakistan – Number of affected persons touches 20

The number of COVID-19 cases has reached 20 in Pakistan after the Gilgit Baltistan (GB) government confirmed the 20^th case in Skardu found in a 14-years old boy who also had traveled to Iran lately. The situation report of March 10, 2020, issued by WHO on Pakistan said that the 11 new cases reported till March 10 had a travelling history of the United Kingdom, Syria, and Iran.

According to the details, 3 cases were reported from the UK, 6 from Syria, and 2 were from Iran. Earlier, the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) had reported all the confirmed cases from neighboring country Iran. 

The WHO situation report also clearly stated that 59 contacts of the newly confirmed cases are being traced and will be tested for COVID-19 while 31 identified contacts have been home quarantined.

“All confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Pakistan are imported and without any local transmission,” it said.

Ministry of NHS in its official statement said that the National Institute of Health (NIH) has dispatched a team of health experts and diagnostic kits to Skardu after the confirmation of the COVID-19 case.

It said that the expert team will train the local health staff in one week while training of laboratory staff has been completed.