LAHORE: The police on Tuesday conducted a partial lockdown of the Bahria Town Housing Society at Raiwind after it reported 22 new confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

The police made heavy deployment at the blocks and outside the residences of the families following the suggestions of the Punjab authorities.

The police had already put the entire Raiwind City in lockdown to protect locals from the virus when hundreds of Tableeghi Jamaat members tested positive for Covid-19 at Raiwind Markaz.

Saddar Division SP Syed Ghazanfar told Dawn that 90 police personnel were deployed at the blocks of the housing society where 22 cases were reported.

He said the movement was restricted in the housing society by closing down its all entry and exit points except two.

Social distancing has been ordered in commercial markets of the Bahria Town as a preventive measure besides putting a complete ban on the general public to enter the society.

Meanwhile, Punjab’s total number of confirmed cases jumped to 2,004 on Tuesday when 86 new patients tested positive for the virus.

Most of the new cases were reported from among the pilgrims quarantined in Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan and Faisalabad. They had arrived from Iran.

According to the official figures, 38 new cases were reported from DG Khan quarantine centre, 13 from Faisalabad and eight from Multan isolation centre.

With these new cases, the total number of pilgrims testing positive for the virus has reached 726 so far.

Similarly, 24 new confirmed cases were reported from five districts of Punjab on Tuesday.

Of them, nine emerged in Bahawalnagar, seven in Gujranwala, four from Lahore, three Rawalpindi and one from Kasur.

The total number of the confirmed cases in Lahore has reached 297 so far.

Only three new cases were reported from among the Tableeghi Jamaat members quarantined at various cities of Punjab, taking their total number of confirmed cases to 539.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2020