Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza on Friday said that it would be “premature” to say that all deaths occurring in the country were due to Covid-19.
Speaking at a media briefing in Islamabad, Mirza said that the primary method of ascertaining whether a person died due to Covid-19 is a laboratory test. “If tests haven’t been done, you cannot say whether a person has died from Covid-19,” he said, adding that without testing, any conclusions would be “mere speculation”.
The SAPM added that the government would issue an advisory in the coming days for doctors working in emergencies about how they should receive dead on arrival or critically ill cases.
“The advisory will contain instructions on how and when to carry out tests of such people if doctors clinically suspect they are Covid-19 positive,” Mirza said.
Referring to media reports claiming the number of deaths in Sindh was much higher than being reported, Mirza said that the Sindh health minister had started a process of contact tracing after some recent unexplained deaths, which he termed a welcome move.
The SAPM said that 6,264 coronavirus tests were conducted across the country on Thursday, adding that it was the highest number of tests in a single day so far.
He revealed that Pakistan now has nearly one million testings kits and more than 20,000 tests would be carried out daily by the month’s end.
Mirza said these tests would help authorities identify the people who have the coronavirus whether they exhibit symptoms or not. He added that 60 per cent of coronavirus cases in the country were locally transmitted.
‘Yaaran-e-Watan programme being launched for overseas doctors’
Appreciating the nation’s resilience during this time, the SAPM said that the country always united in the face of a calamity. “We are getting contributions in the form of money, equipment and medicines not only from people in the country but Pakistanis living abroad as well.” Some 30,000 Pakistani doctors are serving in foreign countries, Mirza revealed, adding that many of them had expressed a desire to help during the pandemic.
He said the government was launching a technology-based platform called “Yaaran-e-Watan” for all such overseas Pakistani doctors and nurses who wanted to help treat coronavirus patients in the country.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said on Friday it will be premature to say that all deaths occurring in Karachi took place due to the novel coronavirus.
Speaking at a media briefing, he said it is wrong to speculate before lab tests are conducted to determine the exact cause of deaths. Wherever such deaths are reported, the deceased will be subjected to tests in future, he added. Dr Zafar Mirza said the government would issue an advisory on “suspicious deaths” tomorrow.
The special assistant said the country’s testing capacity is increasing with the march of time as it would be able to conduct 20,000 tests in a day by the end of this month.
Over the past 24 hours, 6,264 tests were conducted across the country, out of which 497 were declared positive, he said, adding Pakistan’s Covid-19 count has reached 7,025 with 1,765 people recovering from the contagion so far.
60 per cent of the total cases in the country are locally transmitted, Dr Mirza said and added Pakistan’s Covid-19 death rate is 1.9 per cent as compared to 6.7 recorded the world over. He said 11 people died from the pandemic in the country over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 135.
