MUZAFFARABAD: Three more people in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) tested positive for Covid-19, increasing the region’s tally to 18, health minister Dr Najeeb Naqi said on Monday.

Two of the new patients belonged to Mirpur and one to Sudhnoti.

The patient in Sudhnoti, who was in quarantine, is the spouse of a man who has already tested positive on return from a religious congregation in Punjab, said the minister.

In Mirpur, he said, a woman who had reported to hospital with symptoms on Sunday tested positive.

She had no travel history but told hospital authorities that some relatives from abroad had visited their place, the minister said, adding the visitors were also being traced for screening.

The second victim in Mirpur was an expatriate who had arrived in Pakistan on March 24 and was at a quarantine centre for the past three days, he said.

He said as of Sunday evening 455 samples had been collected for testing and only 60 results from the National Institute of Health (NIH) were awaited.

Of the received results, 18 people tested positive, he said. Six each of them belonged to Mirpur and Bhimber districts, three to Sudhnoti, two to Kotli and one to Poonch district.

One of these patients belonging to Sudhnoti has fully recovered, he said.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2020