CHAKWAL: Five more tested positive for Covid-19 in Chakwal, taking their tally to eight in the district.

Earlier, two women from Bochal Kalan village and an elderly man from Mohalla Gharbi locality of Chakwal were confirmed for the disease.

Talking to Dawn, Chakwal Deputy Commissioner retired Captain Abdul Sattar Esani confirmed that five people, three women and two men, had contracted the disease.

He said four of them had recently come from Multan after spending 14 days quarantine there but their reports were received on Tuesday.

“We have received seven suspected patients from Multan on April 5 and were shifted to quarantine centre of Chakwal. All of them had spent a 14-day quarantine period in Multan but their test reports, received on Tuesday, confirmed that four of them were positive for the disease,” DC Esani said.

He said the patients were shifted to High Dependency Unit of Chakwal District Headquarters Hospital.

The fifth patient is 70-year-old woman from Mohalla Gharbi. On April 5, a 75-year-old man from the same locality tested positive and the woman is his neighbour and the officials believe that she might have contracted the disease from her neighbour.

Officials collected samples of twenty five persons from the locality after the 75-year-old man tested positive.

Among those 25, the woman turned out to be positive for the disease.

“All patients are in stable condition and their relatives and general public should not panic,” DC Abdul Sattar Esani said. He said the district administration had chalked out all necessary arrangements in dealing with any untoward situation.

“Besides two quarantine centres each having 100 beds, we have also established a field hospital in Talagang which also has 100 beds,” DC said and added that field hospital was established purely with the help of local philanthropists in a short time of 72 hour. The district administration also installed a disinfectant gate at DHQ Hospital on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, talking to Dawn the relatives of the patients complained about hygiene conditions at hospital.

“The bed sheets are not properly cleaned while washrooms are also stinking,” a relative said.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2020