Another coronavirus patient identified in Pakistan; total cases rise to 6

A 50-year-old man tested positive for the deadly coronavirus in Pakistan on Sunday, taking the total number of the COVID-19 infections in the country to six, officials said.

The new case was found in Karachi where the first patient of coronavirus recovered on Saturday and was sent home from hospital.

"The 50-year-old patient is a resident of Karachi and was tested positive today (Sunday)," said Meeran Yousuf, the media coordinator for the Sindh health minister.

Yousuf said all persons the coronavirus patient came in contact with were quarantined and that doctors were looking into his travel history.

In a coronavirus meeting in Karachi, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was told that so far tested 107 people were tested in the province out of whom 103 tested negative for the infection. All four cases were from Karachi.

Other than the screenings, 265 people have been quarantined in their homes.

Further, the provincial government was preparing to quarantine 300 pilgrims, who were returning from Iran and were presently at the Taftan border.

Meanwhile, Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani announced that all educational institutions would reopen on March 16 as planned.

So far, no coronavirus related death has been reported in Pakistan.

Sindh and Balochistan provinces have already closed their schools and colleges after the deadly virus surfaced in the country.

The novel virus that first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year has claimed over 3,500 lives and infected more than 100,000 across 95 nations and territories.

The World Health Organisation last week raised the global virus risk to maximum level after the outbreak spread to sub-Saharan Africa and stock markets around the world plummeted.