COVID-19 cases rise to 464 in Pakistan, Sindh looking to hire more doctors

The number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan rose to 464 as authorities on Friday confirmed one more death from coronavirus, or COVID-19, raising the total number of casualties in the country to three.

Confirming the first death in Pakistan's Sindh due to the novel coronavirus on Friday, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Fazal said the patient was a 77-year-old man from Karachi, who was a cancer survivor and had diabetes and hypertension. The patient did not have a travel history or contact history.

The Sindh Health Ministry, citing a tabulation error, has revised its tally for coronavirus cases in the province to 238 from 245, reported Dawn.

Currently, Sindh has reported 87 positive cases in its residents and 151 positive cases in the pilgrims in Sukkur, 83 people are under treatment, three have been cured and with one death, the provincial tally is 238.

Punjab has reported 16 more cases of the novel coronavirus, taking the provincial tally to 96, according to a notification issued by the provincial health department spokesperson Qaiser Asif.

So far, 71 of the cases have been reported from Zaireen who travelled to the province from the Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan, 15 from Lahore, two from Multan, three from Muzaffargarh, one from Rawalpindi, three from Gujrat and one from Jehlum, Asif said.

The Sindh Health Department released notices to hire more doctors to fight the lethal virus. The notice read that was posted on Twitter by Sindh Health Department said, "Sindh Health Department is looking for doctors from #Sindh to work on a 6-month contract basis during the #COVID19 emergency. Please send in your documents on the address mentioned below if you meet the criteria."

Meanwhile, 96 cases have been reported in the province of Punjab, 81 in Balochistan, 25 in Gilgit Baltistan, 23 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two in the national capital Islamabad.

With the death of the 77-year-old man in Karachi, the nationwide death toll stands at three, the previous two deaths were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The novel virus that first originated in December last year has infected 245,400 people and has claimed more than 10,000 lives globally as per the data presented by Johns Hopkins University.