LAHORE: As many as 18 more Covid-19 patients died, while 630 other people tested positive for the virus during the last 24 hours in Punjab, as per the official data released on Tuesday.

Of the new cases, 241 were reported in Lahore, 100 in Rawalpindi, 42 in Multan, 36 in Bahawalpur, while the remaining ones surfaced in Layyah, Mandi Bahauddin, Jehlum, Chiniot, Sialkot, Pakpattan, Sargodha, Attock, Jhang, Chakwal, Lodhran, Khanewal, Faisalabad, Gujrat, etc.

According to the official updates on Tuesday, the provincial health department has increased the number of tests conducted daily for screening Covid patients.

During the last 24 hours, the department conducted 15,678 Covid-19 tests in Punjab. The figure was 12,607 on Monday.

The total number of Covid-19 deaths in the province reached 2,879, while that of the confirmed cases 115, 138.

In Lahore alone, so far the virus death toll is 1,162, the highest among the 36 districts of the province, followed by 469 in Rawalpindi, 251 in Faisalabad and 215 in Multan.

Similarly, the disease burden in Lahore was enormously massive due to presence of 56,980 confirmed cases, almost half of the total reported in Punjab so far.

A spokesperson for the health department said out of total confirmed patients of the virus, 98,034 have recovered in Punjab.

He said 13,980 suspected virus patients were also reported during the last 24 hours across the province.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2020