LAHORE: The Covid-19 is taking a heavy toll on Punjab as it claimed lives of two more patients and infected 93 others across the province during the last 24 hours.

A woman breathed her last in Rawalpindi while an elderly man expired at his home in Township and his samples tested positive in the evening.

The Thursday’s number of newly-infected patients was the highest in Punjab so far, taking the tally of confirmed patients to 405. The number of new confirmed cases in Lahore was 26.

Pilgrims returning from Iran are more than 50 per cent of the total 405 confirmed corona patients in Punjab as their tally is 207. They are in isolation at the Tayyip Erdogan Hospital in Muzaffargarh.

The spokesperson for the health department confirmed two new deaths, stating that so far the virus has claimed lives of three patients in Punjab.

A young girl who tested positive for the coronavirus drew attention on Thursday when she left the Jinnah Hospital due to insufficient healthcare arrangements.

As she was declared a confirmed patient in her private lab reports, she visited the Jinnah Hospital where doctors isolated her. She later left the isolation ward and reached the Services Hospital, Lahore, where doctors quarantined her on being Covid-19 patient.

The Jinnah Hospital later declared her LAMA (left against medical advice) and asked the police to search her. However, the girl rejected the allegation of the Jinnah Hospital, saying she left this health facility due to poor environment for corona patients and bad behaviour of the medics.

On Thursday, three more cities reported first time confirmed coronavirus patients-- Attok and Bahawalnagar one each and Mianwali two.

The Mianwali patients are close relatives as they visited the Mayo Hospital in Lahore recently where son of one of the two (relatives) is admitted for being a corona positive. According to Dr Ahsan Naqvi, focal person of the health department for corona patients in Mianwali, the two fell ill after return from Lahore and their samples tested positive at the NIH, Islamabad.

Rawalpindi witnessed a sharp surge in the new cases as 10 more patients tested positive for the virus during the last 24 hours.

(Khursheed Anwar Khan contributed to this report from Mianwali)

Published in Dawn, March 27th, 2020