Key points
Testing facilities for the novel coronavirus is available in the following laboratories in Sindh:
Indus Hospital Karachi
SIUT Karachi
Civil Hospital Karachi
Ziauddin Hospital Karachi
PNS Shifa Karachi
Chughtai Lab
LUMHS Hyderabad
GIMS Khairpur
Addressing a press conference alongside Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal said that the most important priority is the frontline teams of doctors, nurses and medical teams.
He said medical staff in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan have been provided with enough supplies for five weeks in order to deal with the pandemic.
The NDMA has opened a "one window" for hospitals in the Islamabad Capital Territory, although they have been provided with supplies, he said.
The Asian Development Bank has approved a further $2 million grant to support the government’s efforts to combat Covid-19 in Pakistan.
The new grant supplements an initial $500,000 approved by ADB on March 20 which is already being deployed to support Pakistan’s procurement of emergency supplies through Unicef, a press release issued by the ADB said.
“ADB recognises the extraordinary burden of this pandemic on Pakistan and is committed to supporting Pakistan in the fight to control Covid-19”, said ADB Country Director for Pakistan Xiaohong Yang. "This grant will help strengthen COVID-19 detection, improve infection prevention and control, and boost Pakistan’s capacity to respond to the pandemic."
Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police has announced that it has distributed more than 10,000 surgical masks and gloves amongst its citizens as part of its ongoing fight against Covid-19.
The Prince of Wales is out of self-isolation, following his diagnosis of coronavirus, BBC reported.
According to BBC, Prince Charles spent seven days in self-isolation, as per government guidelines. A Palace official was quoted saying that the prince is in good health and is following the government's restrictions.
Coronavirus is spreading too fast for restrictions on public life in Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, to be lifted yet, a spokesman for the German government said.
According to Reuters, Germany is in virtual lockdown, with more than 57,000 people infected and 455 dead from the virus. Schools, shops, restaurants and sports facilities have closed and many firms have stopped production to help slow the spread of the disease.
Read the full story here.
In a press release, the Peshawar High Court shared updates on its institutional response to the coronavirus.
As per press release, the bail petitions of prisoners have been taken on a priority basis.
"In previous week duty single benches of honorable Peshawar High Court had disposed of 126 cases. At district level the duty judges have performed their duties and during special visits to jails have released 222 prisoners involved in petty nature cases," it stated.
Judges also took notice of congestion in jails in Nowshera and Swabi districts and instructed authorities to take all necessary steps for decongestion of prisoners.
They also inspected the hygiene conditions of the jails and issued directives for cleanliness, segregation of incoming prisoners, as per the protocol of Covid-19 precautions.
Islamabad inspector general has instructed that the duty hours of any police official, who is working on the "frontline", should not extend eight hours.
He also directed senior police officials to ensure that protective gear is provided for policemen on duty.
According to Reuters, Austria will require the public to wear basic face masks in supermarkets, where they will be handed out in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said.
“As of the moment these masks are handed out in front of supermarkets, it will be compulsory to wear them in supermarkets,” Kurz said.
The coronavirus epidemic in the United Kingdom is showing signs of slowing and antibody tests could be ready in days, said a professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, Neil Ferguson.
“We think the epidemic is just about slowing in the UK right now,” Ferguson told BBC radio.
Britain, which has the world’s fifth largest economy, initially took an approach to containing the spread of the disease that was modest in comparison to European countries such as Italy.
But Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed stringent controls after projections showed a quarter of a million people could die. Johnson on Friday became the first leader of a major power to announce a positive test result for coronavirus. He is self isolating in Downing Street.
Read the full Reuters story here.
According to a notification issued by the Crisis Management Cell of the Office of the Deputy Commissioner Dir Lower, three family members of a woman who tested positive for the coronavirus have also tested positive for Covid-19.
This includes two of her daughters and a son.
Some other members of her family, however, tested negative for the virus.
In an effort to ease some of the difficulties being faced by the public during the coronavirus outbreak, the Islamabad Capital Territory administration has directed that all shops associated with online payments will remain open for the next three days from 12pm to 4pm.
According to the notification, all the shops will ensure that measures required for social distancing are enforced and followed.
New Zealanders have become so keen to report their neighbours for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules that police said a website dedicated to addressing the issue crashed soon after going live.
The South Pacific nation is in the midst of a four-week Covid-19 lockdown, with residents under orders to stay at home or remain at least two metres (6.5 feet) apart if they must go outside.
Police commissioner Mike Bush said that a police website opened on Sunday afternoon and received such heavy traffic that it temporarily crashed, AFP reported.
China reported a drop in new coronavirus infections for a fourth day as drastic curbs on international travellers reined in the number of imported cases, while policymakers turned their efforts to healing the world’s second-largest economy.
The city of Wuhan, at the centre of the outbreak, reported no new cases for a sixth day, as businesses reopened and residents set about reclaiming a more normal life after a lockdown for almost two months.
Read more here.
Spain’s total number of coronavirus cases rose to 85,195 from 78,797 a day prior, the country’s health ministry said, as the infections surpassed those reported in China, at 81,470 according to the latest data.
According to Reuters, the death toll from the virus in Spain has risen to 7,340 from 6,528 on Sunday.
The coronavirus outbreak at the heart of the British government has spread with Prime Minister Boris Johnson's senior adviser, Dominic Cummings, self-isolating with symptoms just days after the British leader himself tested positive.
A Downing Street spokesman confirmed a Daily Mail report that Cummings, one of the most powerful men in the government, had developed symptoms of Covid-19 over the weekend and was now self-isolating.
Iran has reported 117 new deaths from the novel coronavirus, bringing the official total number of fatalities to 2,757, according to AFP.
Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour announced the tolls in a news conference and said 3,186 more cases had been confirmed in the past day, raising total infections to 41,495.
The Sindh government has issued a circular directing private schools across the province to pay its teachers in full and on time, barring them from laying off their non-teaching staff during the closure of educational institutions because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The notification also directed schools in the province to issue monthly fee challans instead of the usual bi-monthly or quarterly.
In light of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, the Islamabad Capital Territory administration has decided to declare three buildings as quarantine centres.
These include the Pak China Friendship Centre, Hajj Complex, and the OGDCL building I-9.
Police has said that a total of 163 arrests were made on Monday across Sindh.
These arrests were made of over violation of lockdown measures implemented by provincial government to control the spread of coronavirus.
the people arrested were held over charges of violations of Section 144 of Criminal Procedure Code and hoarding of masks, sanitises and gloves etc.
Giving breakdown of the arrests, police said that 58 people were detained in Karachi including 41 in East Zone, 12 in West Zone and five in South Zone of the metropolis and a total of 30 FIRs were registered.
38 persons were detained in Hyderabad, three in Mirpurkhas, six in Benazirabad, 31 in Sukkur and 27 in Larkana. A total of 69 FIRs were registered from these areas.
According to the Sindh health department, six new Covid-19 cases have been reported in Karachi, raising the province's tally to 508.
Meeran Yousuf, media coordinator for the Sindh health and population minister, said that all the cases were locally transmitted.
British airline easyJet has said it has grounded its entire fleet because of the coronavirus pandemic but will still be available for rescue flights to repatriate stranded customers, AFP reported.
“As a result of the unprecedented travel restrictions imposed by governments in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the implementation of national lockdowns across many European countries, easyJet has [...] fully grounded its entire fleet of aircraft,” it said in a statement.
"We will continue to work with government bodies to operate additional rescue flights as requested,” easyJet said.
Punjab has reported another 45 Covid-19 cases, according to provincial health department spokesperson Qaiser Asif, taking the total tally to 638.
Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has said that the government is moving in the right direction when it comes to curbing the spread of the coronavirus.
In an official statement, he maintained that the Centre is constantly in touch with the Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan administrations.
He also urged citizens to strictly follow the prevention guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation and the government.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif has urged the government to take concrete steps to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Punjab.
In a statement issued today, the PML-N president has urged the government to concentrate on establishing quarantine centres so that Covid-19 patients can be housed separately from patients with non-coronavirus related maladies.
"By deciding against testing, the government is putting the people's live in danger," Shehbaz said.
Two more patients have died due to coronavirus, according to Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Anwarul Haq.
According to the official, one of the patients, a 63-year-old man, had a travel history to the UK and was under treatment at an isolation ward at a government hospital for the past 2 weeks.
Further, a 55-year-old woman — who was under treatment in Taxila — also died after testing positive for the virus, he said, adding that the woman was also diabetic.