LAHORE: With 39 deaths, 618 more people tested positive for the Covid-19 during the last 24 hours in Punjab, taking the virus death toll to 3,491 and confirmed cases to 129,291.

Of the new mortalities, 20 occurred in Lahore, where the total number of deaths reached 1,392 so far.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government also released a fresh update on the treatment facilities for the coronavirus patients.

A spokesperson for the health department said total 8,329 beds were allocated for the treatment of Covid patients in 242 public and private sector hospitals in Punjab. Of these, 3,786 beds had oxygen facility, he said, adding that 534 of these were occupied by patients with low saturation.

Similarly, out of the total allocated beds, 669 had ventilators for critical patients. Most of the ventilators were occupied by the critical patients, including 78 in Lahore, 29 in Multan and 17 in Rawalpindi.

He said a total of 2,778 health professionals working in both government and private hospitals had been tested positive for the virus since the pandemic hit Punjab.

According to the official figures released by the Punjab government on Thursday, 361 out of 618 new positive cases were reported in Lahore, 51 in Rawalpindi, 32 in Faisalabad and 20 in Sargodha.

Others were reported in DG Khan, Jhang, Bahawalpur, Multan, Bhakkar, Sahiwal, Vehari, Sialkot, Khushab, Layyah, Sheikhupura, Gujrat, Okara, Toba Tek Singh, Hafizabad, Pakpatan, Chakwal, Chiniot, Gujranwala, Rahim Yar Khan, Khanewal, Nankana, Rajanpur, Lodhran, Jhelum, Kasur, Mianwali and Muzaffargarh.

The Punjab government conducted a total 16,458 tests during the last 24 hours across the province, and the total number of the tests conducted so far has reached 2,239,839.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2020