HARIPUR: The health authorities and district administration claimed on Monday that not a single positive case of coronavirus was reported in Haripur.

Health department sources said that five of the total eight suspected patients from Haripur tested negative for coronavirus.

They said that since March 1 only eight suspected patients underwent screening and their throat swab were sent to NIH Islamabad for test. They said that five of them were tested negative while the results of three were awaited.

“However we have not a single person quarantined at the designated points presently,” said sources. He added that only 22 policemen remained quarantined for a couple of days before their screening and none of them carried any symptom of Covid-19.

Meanwhile, an informed source said that more than 500 residents of different areas of the district had come from various countries since March 1 but none of them was quarantined for 14 days before allowing them to go home.

The source said that most of those people travelled to Haripur after performing Umra in Saudi Arabia and needed to be quarantined properly. The federal government shared the lists of these people with health authorities very late and tracking all of them exposed the health officials to difficulties.

Sources said they should be restricted to their homes with the help of police otherwise they could infect people.

DHO Dr Saifullah Khalid, when contacted, confirmed that there were only eight suspected patients were reported in the district during the last 23 days and out of them five tested negative for the virus.

He said that most of the people, who came from Saudi Arabia and other countries by air, were traced and advised home quarantine.

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2020