LAHORE: Punjab witnessed 40 more Covid-19 deaths during the last 24 hours, taking the tally to 5,308 across the province so far.

Of them most occurred in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad where the respective death toll of the infection reached 2116, 876 and 492.

Meanwhile, the total number of cases in Punjab reached 169,474 after 583 more people tested positive for it during the same period. Again, Lahore has reported maximum number of the new cases 356 where the total confirmed cases reached 86,337.

Other cases were reported from Layyah, Sheikhupura, Narowal, Gujrat, Kasur, Okara, Bhakkar, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Jhang, Bahawalnagar, Khushab, Sialkot, Chiniot, Jhelum, Mianwali, Mandi Bahauddin, Khanewal, Nankana Sahib, Hafizabad, Lodhran, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, Muzaffargarh and Rahim Yar Khan.

A spokesperson for the health department said Punjab continued to report daily deaths and new infections without any respite and the prime factor in this regard was blatant violation of the SOPs.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2021