By Muhammad Luqman
The first two cases of the novel coronavirus in Pakistan have been confirmed, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza tweeted on Wednesday evening.
“I can confirm first two cases of coronavirus in Pakistan. Both cases are being taken care of according to clinical standard protocols & both of them are stable,” country’s top health official said.
“No need to panic, things are under control,” he added, announcing that he will hold a press conference tomorrow (Thursday) on his return to capital ,Islamabad from Taftan, the town on Pakistan-Iran border.
Addressing a late-night press conference in South-western town of Quetta on Wednesday, Mirza said one of the cases was reported in Sindh while the second was confirmed in “federal areas”. He added that both the affected persons had travelled to Iran in the last two weeks.
220/ I can confirm first two cases of corona virus in Pakistan. Both cases are being taken care of according to clinical standard protocols & both of them are stable. No need to panic, things are under control. I will hold press conf tomorrow on return from Taftan.
— Zafar Mirza (@zfrmrza) February 26, 2020
Mirza’s tweet came moments after the Sindh health department announced that a young man had tested positive for the coronavirus in the port city of Karachi.
According to English newspaper, Daily Dawn, the 22-year-old male patient travelled to Iran where he acquired COVID-19, Media Coordinator to the Health and Population Welfare Minister Meeran Yousuf said in a statement, days after Pakistan closed its land border with Iran, where 19 people have died from the virus over the last one week.
The patient travelled from Iran to Karachi by plane on February 20. He and his family have been placed in quarantine and the Health Department is in the process of examining all the passengers that he travelled with, the statement added.
Yousuf said the man had started showing symptoms while he was in Iran. His tests were carried out today, Wednesday at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) which turned out to be positive, she said.
Yousuf said the Sindh government has informed the federal government, World Health Organisation and other partners about the confirmation of the virus in the patient. “The passengers who travelled with him were exposed as well; we will track down all the passengers and carry out their tests,” she added.
No information was immediately available about the second case identified in Pakistan.
The coronavirus has killed over 2,700 people around the world while more than 81,000 have been infected.
The virus is believed to have originated late last year in a food market in the Chinese city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife. Health experts think it may have originated in bats and then passed to humans, possibly via another animal species, Daily Dawn reported.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation said there are now more new cases of the coronavirus reported each day outside China than inside the hardest-hit country.
WHO, had put the number of new cases in China at 411 on Tuesday and those registered outside the country stood at 427.
