894,256 travellers screened for symptoms of virus so far: PM Office

Published March 12, 2020
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Thursday shared that as many as 894,256 "travellers" have so far been screened for symptoms of the novel coronavirus. Out of these, 471 have been tested for the virus. 
— PMO Facebook
The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Thursday shared that as many as 894,256 "travellers" have so far been screened for symptoms of the novel coronavirus. Out of these, 471 have been tested for the virus. — PMO Facebook

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Thursday shared that as many as 894,256 travellers have so far been screened for symptoms of the novel coronavirus. Out of these, 471 have been tested for the virus.

In a tweet quoting data from the National Institute of Health, dated March 12, the PMO confirmed that of those tested, 20 people — not 21 as earlier reported — had been diagnosed positive for the virus till now. The number also includes two persons who have recovered and been discharged from the hospital.

According to data available on the NIH website, of the 20 cases, 14 are from Sindh, five from Gilgit-Baltistan and one from Balochistan.

A screenshot of the NIH dashboard. — NIH website
A screenshot of the NIH dashboard. — NIH website

Math error

Earlier, the Sindh government had reported that there were 15 confirmed cases in the province. The figure was, however, revised to 14 after the health officials realised an error in tabulating the results from the laboratory.

On Wednesday, Sindh Minister for Education Saeed Ghani had said that the number of coronavirus cases confirmed in the province was 14, and not 15 as was previously reported by the government.

He told Dawn.com that the error occurred due to a "misunderstanding", with one of the patients being counted twice after their name was incorrectly entered two times.

On Thursday, Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab also confirmed in a press conference that 14 people have tested positive for the virus so far, adding that two of them have recovered and have been discharged from the hospital.

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