LAHORE - Prime Minister Imran Khan and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Wednesday reached Dera Ghazi Khan to oversee the quarantine facilities where pilgrims returning from Taftan border were being kept.

The prime minister was briefed on the measures taken to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading, as well as the facilities provided to the people who had been quarantined. The prime minister also visited the central command room established to oversee the situation. He also met the people in quarantine and inquired after their health.

Special Assistant to PM on Health Dr Zafar Mirza, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, and Chairman NDMA also accompanied the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister was also briefed about arrival of pilgrims and steps taken for their screening to check coronavirus, residence, food, and drinking facilities at the Command and Control Room in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Reportedly, the people being kept at the center expressed satisfaction on the arrival of the Prime Minister and over the facilities being provided to them.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus cases in Pakistan surged to 254 as 181 patients were tested positive for the epidemic in Sindh, 33 in Punjab, 19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 16 in Balochistan, four in Islamabad and three in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Sindh government spokesman and advisor on law and environment Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday said that the number of coronavirus cases in Sindh has escalated to 181 while two patients were discharged from the hospital after full recovery.

A day earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan in his address to the nation urged to employ precautionary measures to avoid contracting the coronavirus and said that the nation must support the government in its fight against the pandemic. The Prime Minister said that government was monitoring global measures to control the epidemic and the situation in Pakistan was not as bad as in Europe, had cities been locked down in Pakistan, people would’ve died of starvation.