COVID-19: 70-year-old woman dies in Pakistan's Punjab after standing in aid queue for 5 hours

A 70-year-old woman has died in Pakistan's Punjab province when she was waiting for five hours in a queue to collect money under a state-sponsored coronavirus aid scheme, officials said on Thursday.

Sahib Bibi died on Wednesday because of dehydration in the hot weather, police said. Bibi died outside the National Database and Registrations Authority (NADRA) office in Sargodha city, around 200 km from Lahore.

The NADRA gives Rs 12,000 under the Ehsas Kafalat programme to persons affected by the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Bibi stood in line for five hours before fainting, police said. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The deceased's family protested against the NADRA and the government, saying elderly people should be given an area to sit with shade when such aid is being distributed. No social-distancing is not observed in these long queues.

The novel coronavirus, which first surfaced in China's Wuhan city, has claimed 564 lives with over 24,000 infections in Pakistan.