TAXILA: A locality in Mohabatabad in the jurisdiction of Wah Saddar Police Station was sealed on Monday as three persons from the same family tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19).

According to sources in the health department, the head of the family went for tableegh and developed symptoms of Covid-19 upon his return. He tested positive later and his other two family members were subsequently shifted to isolation.

The local administration issued an advisory for those who had come into close contact with the family and made an announcement through mosques of the area torestrict movement in the street where the family lives.

When contacted, Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Faheem said after going through the health department’s report, local administration sealed the street. He said they have also hung banners and distributed pamphlets informing other residents about it.

The entire locality has been disinfected, he said, adding that the local administration was working to screen all the people whom the patient had visited in the recent past. “The patient’s history was shared with the administration so that all his close contacts could be kept in isolation,” he added.

Meanwhile, a man identified as Azhar Ali has been reported as the second Covid-19 positive case of Attock. According to the district health department’s focal person Dr Asif Niazi, the patient belongs to Kamalpur Syedan and is currently under treatment. He said the patient had no travel history and it was a case of local transmission.

Earlier a woman, residing in Pindigheb, tested positive for the disease after she returned from Umrah. She was treated at District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital was sent home after being declared healthy.

The district administration of Attock has established a field hospital for coronavirus at the site of the proposed mother and children care hospital in Attock to isolate and treat the patients.

The field hospital can accommodate 70 patients. Provincial Minister for Revenue Mohammad Anwar Khan on Monday visited the hospital along with MPA Jamshaid Altaf, Deputy Commissioner Ali Anan Qamamr, Assistant Commissioner Jannat Hussain Nekokara and officials of the health department.

The minister was told that suspected patients coming to the quarantine centre at the district headquarters hospital will be shifted to the field hospital if anyone of them tested positive for the virus.The minister praised health workers for performing duties on the frontline to deal with the coronavirus outbreak and said they were the real heroes of the nation.

He said the coronavirus outbreak was a major challenge for the entire nation and the provincial government was struggling to cope with the situation by utilising all available logistics and human resources.

He said we should implement the guidelines and precautionary measures drawn by the health experts besides increasing the test capacity up to at least 3,000 per day.

Mr Khan said social distancing was the key to check the spread of the virus.

Earlier, at a meeting held at the deputy commissioner officer, executive district officer health Dr Sohail Ijaz said 23 quarantine centres had been set up in the area.

Later, the minister visited Ehsaas Kafalat Programme centres established in various parts of the district for distribution of cash among the deserving people.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2020