LAHORE - A whopping number of 247 new COVID19 cases have been reported from across the province on Sunday, taking the number of confirmed patients to 1380. From confirmed COVID19 patients, 443 are members of Tableeghi Jamat, 309 pilgrims who recently returned from Iran, 28 prisoners and 600 citizens who either had travel history or fell victim to local transmission of the virus

A huge number of new cases emerged from amongst 10,263 preachers of Tableeghi Jamat staying at quarantine faciluties in 33 districts across the province. Of the 443 confirmed COVID19 preachers, 359 are at quarantine centre at Raiwind, 31 in Hafizabad, 13 each in Sargodha and Vehari, eight in Gujrat, six in Rawalpindi, four in Khushab, three in Mandi Bahauddin, two each in Nankana Sahib and Rahim Yar Khan and one each in Bhakkar and Rajanpur.

So far 600 citizens have also been tested positive for the virus in 27 districts of the province. These people either have a travel history or they got infected through local transmission of virus.

The highest number of cases have been reported from Lahore where 260 patients are under treatment at different centres. As many as 93 patients are under treatment in Gujrat, 57 in Rawalpindi, 31 in Gujranwala, 29 in Jhelum, 18 in DG Khan, 14 in Mandi Bahauddin, 13 in Nankana Sahib, nine each in Faisalabad and Vehari, eight in Kasur, seven in Sialkot, six in Hafizabad, five each in Narowal, Chinot and Sargodha, four in Multan, three each in Rahim Yar Khan, Mianwali, Bahawalpur and Lodhran and one each in Sheikhupura, Attock, Layyah, Okara and Khushab.

No fatality due to coronavirus was reported on Sunday, therefore the figure of casualties due to COVID19 remained at 12 in Punjab so far including five in Lahore, four in Rawalpindi and one each in Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan.

Meanwhile, as many as 10 doctors, including a female doctor, in Dera Ghazi Khan have been declared COVID19 positive as they contracted the disease while providing treatment to the coronavirus patients in DG Khan, the host district of Zaireen from Iran.

The YDA, Punjab President Dr Haseeb Chaudhry has, however, lambasted the Punjab government for failing to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) to the doctors and medical staff, which resulted in virus transmission among the doctors and medical staff.

The total numbers of confirmed coronavirus infection in the country have reached 2899. These included at least 1,163 cases in Punjab, 881 in Sindh, 372 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 185 in Balochistan, 78 in Islamabad, 206 in Gilgit Baltistan and 14 cases in Azad Kashmir. One hundred seventy patients have recovered while 45 have died.

The government has enhanced testing facilities and a total of 34,885 tests have so far been conducted. Isolation facilities have been established in 462 hospitals across Pakistan with a capacity of 7,295 beds.