KARACHI / ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s sixth case of coronavirus (COVID-19) was reported in Karachi on Thursday.

According to the Sindh health department, the 69-year-old patient has a history of travel to Iran and returned to the country on Feb 25.

“He was being monitored by the health department and was tested today when the symptoms showed up. Now, we have three cases of coronavirus in Sindh,” said Meeran Yousuf, the media coordinator to the health minister.

The patient had been admitted to the isolation ward of a government hospital and his family ‘quarantined’ at home, he said, adding that a health official would monitor the health of the family periodically.

The three other coronavirus patients belong to Gilgit-Baltistan.

The elderly patient with a history of travel to Iran has been admitted to a Karachi hospital

Confirming the latest case, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said in a tweet: “6th case of #coronavirus in Pakistan is confirmed. The patient is in clinically stable condition in Sindh and is being well taken care of.”

Meanwhile, a high-level meeting was held in Islam­abad to review the situation regarding coronavirus in the country. It was attended by the authorities concern­ed and Chief Minister of Sindh of Syed Murad Ali Shah also participated through video link, Executive Dir­ector (ED) of the National Institute of Health (NIH) Maj Gen Dr Aamir Ikram told Dawn.

The meeting decided that all possible steps would be taken to prevent the spread of the disease and raise public awareness so that the people could be saved from the virus, he said.

Also in the day, a meeting of the Emergency Core Group reviewed coronavirus preparedness and response measures. The meeting was told that since the virus had emerged as a threat to people of Pakistan, over 760,000 incoming travellers had been screened at points of entry.

The meeting was chaired by SAPM Dr Mirza and attended by federal Health Secretary Dr Syed Tauqir Hussain Shah, heads of health institutions and other senior officials.

According to a statement issued by the Ministry of National Health Services, the meeting was told that on Wednesday alone 21,360 incoming travellers were screened.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Mirza said a coordinated effort was under way to meet the challenge posed by coronavirus and the National Action Plan was being implemented to face the challenge.

He called upon all those involved in the virus response to spare no effort in protecting the people against the virus.

“Screening on all airports, ports and border crossings is underway... Isolation rooms have been established in major hospitals. Teams are working round the clock. We remain vigilant and alert as it is a question of safeguarding the health of our people,” the SAPM said.

The World Health Organisation’s Country Head Dr Palitha Mahipala told Dawn that the organisation was supporting the country to ensure that the virus would not spread in Pakistan.

“We have been providing personal protective equipment (PPE) to the federal and the provincial governments. A few days ago I visited the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) in Islamabad and was impressed with the arrangements and isolation wards in which 10 separate beds have been placed to keep the suspects. I have decided to provide more PPE to Pims,” he said. “Moreover, hundreds of thousands of pamphlets have been printed and handed over to the government for distribution among the masses to raise public awareness.”

Mr Mahipala said: “I believe that China [where the outbreak started] has done a marvellous job due to which number of cases has started decreasing in the country. Now other countries need to take similar steps to control the virus.”

NIH ED Dr Ikram said that the government was giving top priority due to the sensitive issue. “A few more cases can be reported but after that the situation would be completely controlled,” he hoped.

However a health expert, requesting not to be named, said that the matter was not being taken seriously in Pakistan.

“In the US President Donald Trump has been leading on the issue but in Pakistan we have hardly heard that the prime minister has been involved in the efforts to address the issue,” he said.

So far 96,953 coronavirus cases and 3,310 deaths have been reported in 87 countries. Moreover 53,982 people have recovered after being infected with the deadly virus.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2020