The Punjab government’s response to the second wave of the coronavirus causing a spike in positive cases and deaths seems inadequate as so far only two government health facilities in Lahore have started admitting critical Covid-19 patients.

Despite the provincial capital reporting over 250 new virus positive patients and a visible increase in the number of related deaths, other public sector teaching hospitals have yet to make their Covid-19 wards/beds fully functional. These designated wards were closed down after the infection cases had started decreasing during the first wave of the pandemic.

So far, only the Mayo Hospital and the Expo Centre facility in Lahore are admitting critical Covid patients, while the corona wards in other healthcare facilities are not fully functioning despite having a capacity to handle a good number of such cases.

According to the official figures, the Mayo Hospital has allocated 451 and Expo Centre facility 1,050 beds for Covid-19 patients, keeping in view the rising number of positive cases.

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