TAXILA/GUJAR KHAN: Three people died of the novel coronavirus, one each in Attock, Gujar Khan and Taxila on Sunday, health officials said.

According to the health department, the number of deaths in Taxila due to Covid-19 increased to five and in Attock to four while 10 people have lost their lives to the virus in Gujar Khan.

In Taxila, a 65-year-old man from Jamilabad was admitted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on April 29 and had tested positive on May 3. He died on Sunday.

Deputy District Officer Health Dr Sara Qadeer confirmed that it was the fifth death due to the virus in Taxila.

Meanwhile, the number of positive patients in Taxila increased to 76.

According to Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Faheem, 41 positive patients were admitted to hospitals. He said 23 positive patients were on home quarantine and teams were monitoring the condition of the patients isolated at their homes. He said so far eight positive patients have recovered in the tehsil.

In Attock, a former security forces official, who was under treatment at Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) Kamra Hospital, died of the coronavirus on Sunday.

Assistant Commissioner Hazro Maleeha Essar said the deceased’s body was taken to his native town in Mardan.

The number of novel coronavirus cases in Attock has reached 84. District focal person on Covid-19 Dr Asif Arbab Niazi said the new positive patient was from Sultanpur village who had a travel history of Saudi Arabia.

Responding to a question, he said so far sampling of 5,057 people had been carried out while the number of suspected people increased to 1,820 out of which 1,498 tested negative and results of 238 were awaited.

With the death of another coronavirus patient, the tally of casualties from the virus in Gujar Khan increased to 10.

There are 76 confirmed Covid-19 patients in the tehsil. Health officials said a patient had been shifted to Holy Family Hospital where he died on Sunday.

Published in Dawn, May 18th, 2020