TAXILA: The district of Attock witnessed the highest single-day spike of Covid-19 positive cases as 11 people were diagnosed with the disease on Monday.

An official of the National Highways and Motorway Police and an employee of the municipal committee Hassanabdal were among the new patients, health authorities said.

Meanwhile, the authorities carried out disinfection spray in the localities from where the fresh cases were reported.

According to health authorities, 10 of the new cases are of local transmission while one patient had a foreign travel history as she had recently returned from Saudi Arabia.

District focal person on Covid-19 Dr Asif Arbab Niazi confirmed that it was the highest single-day spike of coronavirus positive cases in Attock since the first patient emerged in the district on March 25.

He said six of the patients were close relatives of a government employee who had already tested positive.

Mr Niazi also said the tally of suspected patients had also increased to 1,854 while samples of 5,119 people had been sent for testing. He said results of 211 patients were awaited. He said 19 patients were under treatment at various health centres while 31 others were on isolation.

Meanwhile, five more patients tested positive in the Taxila city raising the tally to 80.

The health department confirmed that the five patients included a 32-year-old woman. They are on isolation at POF hospital Wah.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2020