A woman wears a face mask in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar on March 12, 2020. The confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose to 21 in Pakistan, with a new case reported in north Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region on Thursday, officials said. (Xinhua/Saeed Ahmad)
ISLAMABAD, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose to 21 in Pakistan, with a new case reported in north Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region on Thursday, officials said.
The new patient, a 31-year-old man, retuned from Iran last month and was isolated upon showing the symptoms of the disease. He was tested positive for the disease in lab tests, Faizullah Firaq, a spokesman of the GB told Xinhua.
He said the new case brought the total number of COVID-19 patients to three in isolation wards of Skardu district of the region, and all of them are in stable condition, whereas two more infected people from the region are being treated in a hospital in Islamabad.
On Wednesday, the country's foreign ministry said that a Pakistani in Italy died of COVID-19, and the Pakistani Embassy in the country is in touch with his family and the concerned Italian officials.
Pakistan's southern Sindh province is the worst-effected with the virus and 15 people have been tested positive so far there, including a 22-year-old university student who was declared virus-free after being kept in isolation ward for a few weeks.
A medical emergency has been declared in the country's east Punjab province, the official Twitter account of the provincial government said, adding that three hospitals across the province with a capacity of 800 beds are declared quarantine for emergency.
Other provinces and the federal government are also taking measures to control the spread of disease, including closing of schools for about three weeks in Sindh and six weeks in Balochistan, formation of quarantines across the country, screening at airports, and allocation of budget to deal with the disease.
Over 4,000 people, returning from Iran, are being quarantined along Pakistan-Iran border in Balochistan.
A man wears a face mask in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar on March 12, 2020. The confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose to 21 in Pakistan, with a new case reported in north Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region on Thursday, officials said. (Xinhua/Saeed Ahmad)
A staff member checks the body temperature of a driver in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar on March 12, 2020. The confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose to 21 in Pakistan, with a new case reported in north Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region on Thursday, officials said. (Xinhua/Saeed Ahmad)
A staff member checks the body temperature of a man in northwest Pakistan's Peshawar on March 12, 2020. The confirmed cases of COVID-19 rose to 21 in Pakistan, with a new case reported in north Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region on Thursday, officials said. (Xinhua/Saeed Ahmad)
