LAHORE: Another man who tested positive for the coronavirus infected 14 healthy people in Jhelum, showing the scale of negligence in handling patients carrying the virus.

Meanwhile, a young patient died in Lahore and two elderly people in Rawalpindi on Monday. A 40-year-old man who succumbed to the virus at the Mayo Hospital was brought from Okara. He tested positive for the Covid-19 during treatment at the Mayo Hospital.

Meanwhile, 45 new patients tested positive for the Covid-19 in Punjab on Monday, taking the tally of confirmed cases to 638 all over the province.

According to official figures, total number of confirmed patients of Covid-19 reached 126 in Lahore after 10 new people tested positive for the virus. Nankana Sahib reported 11 new confirmed cases, Gujrat seven and Rawalpindi 12.

On Monday, Hafizabad (five) and Kasur (one) reported confirmed cases for the first time.

With the addition of two new cities, the virus has spread to 21 districts of Punjab so far. Of them, Lahore, Multan, Gujrat, Rawalpndi and Jehlum have become the most vulnerable for the virus by reporting maximum number of positive cases.

“The man who infected 14 people had arrived from abroad and the health teams acted immediately to isolate his contacts for investigation,” primary & secondary healthcare secretary retired Capt Usman told Dawn.

He said almost a similar case had surfaced recently in Gujrat where the patients tested positive for the virus were infecting healthy people.

“According to the preliminary inquiries, four patients having history of international travel infected nearly 37 people in Gujrat where the number of confirmed cases reached 62”, he said.

To a question, he said the health teams were investigating the matter to find out how many people have been infected by each of the four confirmed patients of the Covid-19 in Gujrat.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2020