ISLAMABAD / KARACHI / PESHAWAR / LAHORE / QUETTA / MUZAFFARABAD: The novel coronavirus emerged in the central China city of Wuhan towards the end of last year and proliferated to almost the whole world within a couple of months. It’s not the virulence or fatality, but the infectivity of the new virus – also known as SARS-CoV-2 – that has set off a global frenzy.
The Covid-19 respiratory illness caused by this mysterious contagion has so far infected more than 5.3 million people in 202 countries and territories of the world – and over 335,000 of them have died and counting.
Pakistan, despite its close proximity with China, remained coronavirus-free until February 26 when a young man from Karachi tested positive after returning from Iran – one of the worst-hit countries. After a brief hiatus following the first case, Covid-19 cases spiked as more pilgrims returning from Iran tested positive for the virus.
Nearly one and a half months after imposing the lockdown across the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced to ease the lockdown in phases.
The nationwide tally of Covid-19 patients stands at 57,041 with 20,077 cases in Punjab, 22,934 in Sindh, 8,080 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 3,468 in Balochistan, 630 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 1,641 in Islamabad and 223 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The virus has claimed at least 1,179 lives while at least 17,482 coronavirus patients have recovered.
