Nearly 175,000 people in Pakistan have been denied testing for coronavirus for failing to meet the criteria for such examinations, a media report said on Wednesday.
Pakistan has registered over 6,245 coronavirus cases and more than 112 deaths due to the deadly viral infection.
At a time when COVID-19 cases are rising in the country, there remain limited numbers of tests and the capacity of laboratories is under strain.
According to a report in the Urdu newspaper, 'Daily Jang', some 250,000 people reported at government hospitals across the country for coronavirus testing.
"However, only 74,000 suspected cases were tested, out of which around 6,000 people were tested positive for the novel coronavirus," the report said.
Citing sources, it said,"The health ministry had to refuse examination for some 175,000 people as they did not meet the criteria set for the tests."
However, the details of all those persons who had come for the tests have been saved in the data base of the health authorities.
One of the criteria for the coronavirus test is that a person must have returned from abroad, the report said, adding that the doctors on duty take the final decision on whether a test is necessary for a person or not.
If a person has tested positive, then his family members and close relatives with whom he has come into contact are also quarantined as precautionary measures, it said.
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