As many as 27 people have died after being infected with the deadly coronavirus in Pakistan so far. The virus has infected several thousand people worldwide.
Even as the number of confirmed cases in Pakistan has reached 2071, some reports suggest that medical professionals refuse to work on the forefront...and clerics are refusing to close mosques, blatantly disregarding what health experts have repeatedly said is key to curb the spread of the virus - social distancing.
Punjab leads with 740 confirmed cases, followed by Sindh at 676 cases, KPK-253, Balochistan-158, Islamabad-54, Gilgit-Baltistan- 84, and PoK-6.
According to reports, there are hundreds of cases, mostly in Mirpur and surrounding areas but they are not being tested. The pilgrims from Iran are still coming via the Taftan border as Iran has abandoned them in the no-man's land along the border.
A Dawn report dated March 30, stated that most of the cases reported from Sindh are those of pilgrims who returned from Iran via the Taftan border, "where they had been quarantined for 14 days."
Reports of the lack of adequate screening procedures and squalid living conditions at the quarantine camps at the Taftan border crossing with Iran have raised concerns about the surge in the number of infections.
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According to The News International, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that "people are treating coronavirus patients like 'criminals' and reiterated that only the old and the weak needed to be hospitalized in case they contracted the infection".
He said "coronavirus will be confronted by the force of faith" and announced government measures to contain the virus.
Pakistani media cited Jamaat-i-Islami's general-secretary Liaqat Baloch as saying that the Prime Minister is "confused" over whether or not to impose a lockdown in the country.