By Minahil Makhdoom
ISLAMABAD: Executive Director at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad Dr. Ansar Maqsood has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), sources said on Sunday.
They said the PIMS head has isolated himself at home after being diagnosed with the infection that is fast spreading among healthcare professionals at the forefront of the country’s fight against the contagion.
Meanwhile, an admin officer of the PIMS has also been infected by the coronavirus. The sources said 200 staffers of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences have been diagnosed as positive for the infection while three have succumbed to the deadly disease thus far.
68 more health workers tested positive for COVID-19
ISLAMABAD: COVID-19 continued to take its toll on health workers in the country as 68 more of them tested positive for the virus in past 24-hours on Sunday.
According to a report prepared by the National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad and conveyed to the Ministry of National Health Services showed that 40 doctors, six nurses and 22 paramedics have been infected in past 24 hours.
The overall health workers affected by the virus have reached to 4,855, the report said. Highlighting the number of health professionals affected by the virus infection, it reported that 2950 doctors have so far tested positive for COVID-19, followed by 583 nurses and 1322 other health workers.
“Currently, 2478 health workers are quarantined at their homes, while 307 are receiving treatment at hospitals across the country and of them 302 are said to be in a stable condition,†the report showed.
The report detailed that 2022 coronavirus-positive healthcare workers have recovered. On the other hand, 48 healthcare workers have so far died of the infection.
Giving a province-wise division of fatalities, it showed that Sindh remains worst affected as 18 medics have so far lost their lives in the province. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab reported deaths of 10 and eight health workers respectively from COVID-19, followed by five deaths in Balochistan.
Four health workers have succumbed to the infection in Islamabad and three in Gilgit-Baltistan region, the report showed. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) killed 119 more people in the country over the previous 24 hours, taking the death toll from the disease to 3,501.
ccording to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 4,951 fresh cases were detected during this period, taking the national tally of the infected cases to 176,614. 4,951 new infections were detected when 28,855 tests were conducted over the past 24 hours. A total of 10,716,42 tests have been conducted in the country. More than 150,224 COVID-19 patients are under treatment.
67,353 cases have been detected in Sindh so far, 65,739 in Punjab, 21,444 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 9,328 in Balochistan, 10,662 in Islamabad, 813 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 1,278 in Gilgit Baltistan.
