LAHORE: With seven deaths and 487 new Covid patients reported during the last 24 hours in Punjab, the district and health teams sealed a school and class of a government college.

The government girls’ school was sealed in Shershah Colony in Lahore while class and office of a senior lecturer/teacher was sealed at the Government College on Wahdat Road.

Meanwhile, infection rate of the virus increased to five in Punjab due to persistent surge in the new cases and deaths. While sharing disturbing figures, an official of the health department said that the state-run hospitals of the province were receiving a large number of critical patients after onset of the virus.

The total number of admitted patients in the public sector hospitals of Punjab reached 500 and this number was less than 50 a month back. The official said that most of these patients were those who were in dire need of oxygen. Of the new positive cases recorded on Saturday, 208 were reported from Lahore, 102 from Rawalpindi and 41 from Multan.

Others were reported from Khushab, DG Khan, Layyah, Pakpattan, Gujranwala, Sar-godha, Mianwali, Khanewal, Lodhran, Faisalabad, Muza-ffargarh, Bahawalpur, Toba Tek Singh, Rahim Yar Khan, Okara, Bhakkar, Gujrat, Jhang, Jhelum, Vehari, Chinot, and Sahiwal.

Of the new deaths, two occurred in Multan and one each in Bahawalnagar, Bhawalpur, Faisalabad, Multan and Sargodha.

According to the official figures, the total number of positive cases of the virus reached 109,309 in Punjab and 2,462 have died.

The health official said that the teams conducted 12,038 Covid-19 tests during the last 24 hours. He said that the coronavirus new positive cases and deaths were persistently increasing all over the province.

The official said the provincial capital Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi had been declared hotspots for the virus due to the alarming surge in the new cases.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2020