HYDERABAD: Four more persons tested positive for coronavirus in Hyderabad on Sunday and all the new cases were local transmissions caused by contact with Covid-19 patients, according to health officials.

Two of the infected persons are residents of Hyderabad city, one hails from Lahore who is member of Tableeghi Jamaat and was staying at Noor Masjid in Wahdat Colony before being shifted to Kohsar quarantine facility, the fourth belongs to Tando Mohammad Khan district.

Three of them had now been shifted to Liaqaut University Hospital’s isolation ward and the Lahore resident was awaiting availability of ambulance at the Kohsar facility for being shifted.

Health authorities had obtained samples of eight persons who had been in contact with a Chinese Muslim man who tested positive for the virus a couple of days before. Out of the eight samples, one tested positive on Sunday and reports of the rest were being awaited.

The number of Covid-19 patients at the LUH isolation ward will swell to six after the four join them. Two patients, a Chinese national and a woman from Dadu, are already under treatment at the ward.

Currently, 15 suspected Covid-19 patients are at the Kohsar facility, according to the facility in-charge Dr Suresh. A batch of 11 members of Tableeghi Jamaat were discharged on Saturday night after getting clearance in examination, he said.

A villager was suspected to have contracted the Covid-19 in Mithi, a correspondent in the city adds.

The villager, who was admitted to Mithi Civil Hospital with symptoms of the Covid-19, was shifted to Hyderabad Civil Hospital. Two doctors who had provided him first aid were also advised to go into self-isolation for two weeks at their homes.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2020