ISLAMABAD: The ministry of national health services (NHS) informed the Senate on Tuesday that Congo virus had claimed 33 lives across the country during the past 10 months.

Official documents revealed that the National Institute of Health (NIH) received 552 samples of which 109 were confirmed cases of the Congo virus.

The information was shared in reply to a question asked by Senator Jehanzeb Jamaldini.

The documents revealed that 32 suspected cases were reported from Karachi; 16 were confirmed and 10 patients died.

Similarly, 10 people in Balochistan died of the virus out of the 46 confirmed cases from among 192 samples.

Another 99 samples were received from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, of which 20 were positive cases and seven patients died.

In Punjab, 12 samples out of 154 samples were positive and patients could not survive the virus.

Four people in Azad Jammu and Kashmir died out of nine confirmed cases from among the 26 samples received.

No casualty was reported from Islamabad and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas from among a few confirmed cases.

In addition, 26 samples were received from Afghanistan with nine confirmed cases and four deaths.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2016