Featured CoronaVirus in Pakistan - Updates & Discussion

[NeonNinja]

is it true 11 new cases appear in sukhar coming from Iran?
and one case in Lahore?

yes it is true

 

[Haris Ali2140]

To lighten the mood:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1239146857399554049

 

[Maxpane]

yes it is true

RIP now . now its numbers increase manifold

 

[NeonNinja]

RIP now . now its numbers increase manifold

May Allah have mercy on us all

 

[Maxpane]

May Allah have mercy on us all

ameen

 

[YeBeWarned]

Social Media is fill with Shia people calling entire Govt Yazid for closing Iranian Border, but many of the cases are coming from there .. people need to chill out, everyone is closing the borders, this is getting away from this or that sect or religion, Even Tawaf at Kabba is closed for f Sake, support closing borders not oppose it ..

 

[R Wing]

May Allah have mercy on us all

I pray that Allah has mercy on us --- but we shouldn't have any mercy for our pathetic leadership and NSC.

Why are flights from countries known to be carrying serious disease burden/infections allowed in?

Hundreds of carriers are being allowed in at our three major airports as I type this! What good will domestic measures do when you're letting in hordes of carriers from destinations such as the US and the UK?

1.) Screening at airports is just temperature/fever --- which is a late symptom. You are an infected carrier capable of infecting scores of others well before that.

2.) Reported cases are low because many idiots coughing away (came across dozens in Islamabad just over the weekend) aren't getting tested.

3.) Our actual cases are probably in the thousands.

May God have mercy on our citizens but not on our government.

 

[NeonNinja]

So far 50 people who had arrived in Sukkur from Taftaan have tested positive.Total cases in Pakistan now stands at 94

https://twitter.com/x/status/1239423769560702977

China has provided emergency assistance to Pakistan for COVID19 prevention and control, including 12,000 test kits, 300,000 masks, 10,000 protective suits and 4 million U.S. dollars to build hospitals, according to ambassador Yao Jing.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1239411067106795521

 

[shah_123]

It was narrated that ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar said:
“The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) turned to us and said: ‘O Muhajirun, there are five things with which you will be tested, and I seek refuge with ALLAH swt' lest you live to see them: Immorality never appears among a people to such an extent that they commit it openly, but plagues and diseases that were never known among the predecessors will spread among them. They do not cheat in weights and measures but they will be stricken with famine, severe calamity and the oppression of their rulers. They do not withhold the Zakah of their wealth, but rain will be withheld from the sky, and were it not for the animals, no rain would fall on them. They do not break their covenant with Allah and His Messenger, but Allah will enable their enemies to overpower them and take some of what is in their hands. Unless their leaders rule according to the Book of Allah and seek all good from that which Allah has revealed, Allah will cause them to fight one another.’”

حَدَّثَنَا مَحْمُودُ بْنُ خَالِدٍ الدِّمَشْقِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ أَبُو أَيُّوبَ، عَنِ ابْنِ أَبِي مَالِكٍ، عَنْ أَبِيهِ، عَنْ عَطَاءِ بْنِ أَبِي رَبَاحٍ، عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ، قَالَ أَقْبَلَ عَلَيْنَا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ـ صلى الله عليه وسلم ـ فَقَالَ ‏ "‏ يَا مَعْشَرَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ خَمْسٌ إِذَا ابْتُلِيتُمْ بِهِنَّ وَأَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ أَنْ تُدْرِكُوهُنَّ لَمْ تَظْهَرِ الْفَاحِشَةُ فِي قَوْمٍ قَطُّ حَتَّى يُعْلِنُوا بِهَا إِلاَّ فَشَا فِيهِمُ الطَّاعُونُ وَالأَوْجَاعُ الَّتِي لَمْ تَكُنْ مَضَتْ فِي أَسْلاَفِهِمُ الَّذِينَ مَضَوْا ‏.‏ وَلَمْ يَنْقُصُوا الْمِكْيَالَ وَالْمِيزَانَ إِلاَّ أُخِذُوا بِالسِّنِينَ وَشِدَّةِ الْمَؤُنَةِ وَجَوْرِ السُّلْطَانِ عَلَيْهِمْ ‏.‏ وَلَمْ يَمْنَعُوا زَكَاةَ أَمْوَالِهِمْ إِلاَّ مُنِعُوا الْقَطْرَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَلَوْلاَ الْبَهَائِمُ لَمْ يُمْطَرُوا وَلَمْ يَنْقُضُوا عَهْدَ اللَّهِ وَعَهْدَ رَسُولِهِ إِلاَّ سَلَّطَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ عَدُوًّا مِنْ غَيْرِهِمْ فَأَخَذُوا بَعْضَ مَا فِي أَيْدِيهِمْ ‏.‏ وَمَا لَمْ تَحْكُمْ أَئِمَّتُهُمْ بِكِتَابِ اللَّهِ وَيَتَخَيَّرُوا مِمَّا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ إِلاَّ جَعَلَ اللَّهُ بَأْسَهُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Grade : Sahih (Darussalam)
Reference : Sunan Ibn Majah 4019
In-book reference : Book 36, Hadith 94
English translation : Vol. 5, Book 36, Hadith 4019

 

[Raj-Hindustani]

@BHarwana - I hope you will show some concerns as you shows about cases in India .

CORONAVIRUS CASES IN PAKISTAN SOAR TO 95
0 COMMENT

MAR 16 2020

BY NEWSWEEK PAKISTAN

Twitter

PUNJAB REPORTS FIRST PATIENT, AS SINDH TALLY CLIMBS TO 76, WITH TWO PEOPLE HAVING RECOVERED
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Pakistan climbed to 95 over the weekend, as Punjab reported its first patient and Sindh’s provincial tally reached 76 on Monday morning.

“There are now 52 confirmed cases, of which effective contact tracing is being carried out. We’ve increased our diagnostic capacity, and are now able to carry out coronavirus test in 13 labs across the country,” Special Assistant to the P.M. on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza posted on Twitter on Sunday night. The National Institute of Health’s sporadically updated COVID-19 dashboard verified this claim, but did not include in its tally a confirmed case reported from Punjab, or a 35th case from Sindh, which had lifted the overall tally to 54 by Sunday night.

“The total number of patients in Sindh has now reached 35 out of which 2 have recovered,” Senator Murtaza Wahab, Sindh lawmaker and adviser to the chief minister, posted on Twitter on Sunday night, confirming the total patients in the province. He said the latest case originally belonged to Balochistan but had been tested for COVID-19 after he reached Karachi on Saturday night.

On Monday morning, Senator Wahab updated the tally. “More results have come in. So far 50 people who had arrived in Sukkur from Taftan have tested positive, 25 at Karachi and 1 at Hyderabad. So the total patients have reached 76 in Sindh. Out of these 76 patients, 2 have recovered and the remaining 74 are being kept in isolation,” he posted on Twitter.

Overall Tally

• Sindh – 76
• Punjab – 1
• Balochistan – 5
• Gilgit-Baltistan – 5
• Islamabad – 2
• Taftan – 6
• Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa – 0

Meanwhile, Punjab province confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus—not included in the NIH’s most recently updated data—with provincial spokesman Musarrat Cheema saying the patient was a 54-year-old who had returned from the U.K. on March 10 and had tested positive at Lahore’s Mayo Hospital. “All of his close contacts are tested negative but they will be kept in isolation for 15 days as per SOPs,” she added on Twitter.

Of the remaining cases, six were reported from mobile quarantine labs in Taftan, Balochistan, where pilgrims returning from Iran had been kept under quarantine; five were from Gilgit-Baltistan; five were from Balochistan; and two were from Islamabad.

The overall tally for the cases in Pakistan comes to 95 with two having recovered.

Globally, over 5,000 people have died and more than 140,000 infected by COVID-19, with the disease spreading into new territories. The World Health Organization has declared Europe the new epicenter of the infection, with Italy and Spain in particular reporting a dramatic rise in cases.

Pakistan on Friday implemented a series of measures designed to halt the spread of coronavirus, including banning large public gatherings, closing schools and shutting down the country’s borders with Iran and Afghanistan. Provincial governments have also imposed restrictions on public gatherings, including bans on weddings, closure of shrines, and calls for better hygiene practices.


https://www.newsweekpakistan.com/coronavirus-cases-in-pakistan-soar-to-95/

 

[CrazyZ]

Scary. The tafton quarantine was a joke. There is talk of cutting off Sind and putting it in lock down.

IMF is relaxing defecit terms for Pakistan to help address the outbreak.

 

[Maxpane]

now 104

 

[maithil]

Tally touching 130 and crossing India.

 

[pkuser2k12]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1239453585659879425

 

[Asian.Century]

Who suffers, who cares

As Pakistan waits for the coronavirus disease to peak in the coming weeks, one can only speculate at what toll this will take on us in the long term. Both the stock market and the exchange rate have been shaky at best over the past week. Most well to do Pakistanis have started to empty out stores and supermarkets as they hoard up on essential commodities, waiting for the worse to happen.

One wonders who will be looking after those with limited incomes? How will the poor people cope with the rise in prices if this kind of panic buying continues. Does the government have any strategy in place?

It seems Islamabad is grappling. While the Sindh government led the way in introducing preventive measures to combat the spread of the disease some weeks back, the federal government, led by Dr Zafar Mirza finally woken up to the situation and announced measures that should have been in place much earlier.


For their own petty politics, the centre did not follow the measures taken by the Sindh government earlier. It also didn’t help the provincial administration much. It was only after the WHO officials praised the work of the province that Islamabad finally woke up.

We will pay a heavy price because of this neglect. Despite tall claims by Dr Mirza, those coming through Karachi Airport were not checked for symptoms. We are told that pilgrims coming from Iran were let into the country overland with minimal checking. This comes at a cost. It is no surprise that the first case detected was in Karachi and the victim had previously been in Iran. The people this patient may have infected could have been prevented.

The neglect continues. Even today while Islamabad and Lahore airports are being cleaned and scrubbed, no such exercise is being conducted in Karachi. The welcome initiative by the Sindh government to set up a checking service for incoming passengers at Karachi airport (after Islamabad failed miserably) is being ridiculed by ruling party supporters. How petty can this get?

Over the next few weeks we will know the real cost of the delay of implementing preventive measured by the centre. Can we blame this on short sightedness or a false sense of security?

Who can forget that only four months back, officials in Pakistan under this government were accused of covering up an outbreak of the most dangerous strain of polio and planning a covert vaccination programme to contain the disease?

The P2 strain had previously been eliminated from the country. However, the new cases were allegedly kept hidden from the government and from international donors, including the UK’s Department for International Development, under direct instruction from Babar Bin Atta, the Prime Minister’s focal representative on polio eradication, who was then forced to resign. Given this shameful incident, one would have expected the government to be more vigilant in the present-day scenario.

It is time to wake up and take the initiative. For example, government regulators should be vigilant about the activities in their sectors. Take for example the banking sector. The State Bank needs to do a comprehensive exercise on what measures have been put in place by banks to ensure their staff are kept safe from infection given the heavy load of public dealing.

Till now, barely any branch of any bank has facilities of hand sanitizers or staff taking precautions. The SBP should ask banks what provisions have been made for staff to work from home. As of now, barely a fraction of staffers is working from home.

Policies to protect employees should be put in place. Employees working from home should not be penalised in any sector. Regulators can introduce SOPs on how entities can operate to cope with the crisis and at the same time keep people safe. Risks should be avoided. Common sense should prevail.

The government also should come down hard on offenders. All places where people can converge in large numbers should be shut down for the time being. But we are not seeing that happen. Many malls remain open and patrons continue to visit them despite the obvious risks this poses. Commercial interests should be set aside in favour of the national interest. Can we do this for once?

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2020.

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