LAHORE: With 103 more deaths reported during the last 24 hours, 1,005 Covid-19 patients are struggling for life on high-flow oxygen while 368 are on ventilators in Punjab.

The death toll in Punjab reached 8,327. Of them, 34 died in Lahore where the total number of casualties reached 3,428, according to the Covid update released by the Punjab government here on Thursday.

The official figures released by the National Command and Operation Centre stated that of the total 368 patients, 226 were on ventilators in Lahore’s hospitals. It reported that 43,119 patients were getting treatment at their homes in the province.

An official of the health department said the coronavirus was spreading fast to the small districts with every passing day. He said according to the fresh updates, the number of the districts in Punjab where the infection rate was more than 8pc had reached 19pc now. Of them, five were those where the positivity rate of the virus was alarmingly high, including Lahore, Faisalabad, Okara, Sahiwal, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi.

103 more die, 368 on ventilators

The Punjab government’s figures showed 2,674 more infections reported in Punjab during the last 24 hours and the total number of the positive cases jumped to 298,818 across the province.

Most of the new infections (1,302) also were reported from the provincial capital where the total number of the positive cases now stood 158,090.

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

The testing ratio is still insufficient in the wake of the growing number of the new cases surfacing in Punjab.

According to the official figures, the Punjab government performed only 26,338 tests during the last 24 hours in the province.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2021