Pakistan confirms fifth coronavirus case

Published On: March 3, 2020 12:39 PM NPT By: Reuters

A sign with instructions is placed in the halls with a red tape on the floor in an isolation section, setup for the precautionary measures for the coronavirus patients treatment, at the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center (JPMC) in Karachi, Pakistan February 3, 2020. REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro/Files

KARACHI, PAKISTAN, March 3: Pakistan on Tuesday reported a new coronavirus case, taking the total in the South Asian nation to five since the first cases were confirmed last week, officials said.

“We have now 5th confirmed case of COVID19 in federal areas,” Zafar Mirza, the country’s health minister said in a tweet early Tuesday morning.

The patient is stable and being managed well, he said, without giving further details.

The local Geo television station said the patient is a 45-year-old woman from the northern mountainous region of Gilgit Baltistan, who arrived from Iran a few days ago.

She is being treated at a hospital in Gilgit, it said, and her family members are being tested for the virus. Local schools have been closed following the confirmation of the infection.

Most of the cases reported so far in Pakistan have a history of travel to Iran.

The southern province of Sindh on Monday extended the closure of all educational institutions following the confirmation of a second coronavirus case in Karachi, the country’s largest city.

Pakistan announced its first two cases of COVID19 last Wednesday.