TAXILA: A National Bank branch in Aslam Market was sealed on Monday after four members of staff tested positive for Covid-19.

Health authorities said an assistant vice president, grade one officer, cash sorter and teller were diagnosed wit the disease, following which authorities sealed the branch and collected test samples from other employees that were sent to the National Institute of Health in Islamabad.

Bank sources said the branch has been closed for 10 days as a precaution, and the bank’s management has asked account holders and customers to use other branches in the city.

Covid-19 patients die in Taxila, Fatehjang

A Covid-19 patient in Taxila and another in Fatehjang died on Monday, raising the death toll of the virus to 11 in Taxila and seven in Attock district.

Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Faheem said that a 60-year-old woman who lived in Chairman Colony in Wah was buried in a local graveyard, under the supervision of health, police and army teams.

District Emergency Officer Dr Ishfaq Mian said that a 50-year-old woman from Mallal village in Fatehjang who had been admitted to the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU) died on Monday.

Attock Chief Executive Officer Health Dr Sohail Ejaz Awan also conformed that this is the second Covid-19 death in Fatehjang city, as a woman from the same town also died on Sunday.

177 Covid-19 cases in Taxila

There were 14 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Taxila, Deputy District Officer Health Dr Sara Qadeer said.

She said most of the cases were from rural and urban areas in Wah.

So far, 812 suspected patients have been sampled and the results of 476 are awaited, she said, adding that 29 patients have recovered in the area.

Dr Qadeer said 90 Covid-19 patients have been isolated at home and health authorities are monitoring their condition. All the new cases were of local transmission or of infection due to contact with an existing patient.

Attock reports six more cases

Six more patients in Attock has brought the total number of Covid-19 cases to 154.

In an official statement regarding the coronavirus pandemic in Attock, health authorities said that two cases were reported in the city, two in Pindigheb and one each in Fatehjang and Hassanabdal.

District focal person for Covid-19 Dr Asif Arbab Niazi said that the results of 235 suspected patients are awaited, while 12 confirmed patients are being treated at various hospitals.

There are 47 patients isolated at home and 31, including 30 migrant workers who returned from the United Arab Emirates, are at quarantine centres in the district.

He said 58 people have recovered from the disease so far.

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2020