Mirza says relating all deaths in country to coronavirus not right

• Zafar says laboratory test is the primary method of ascertaining whether a person has died of coronavirus or not.
• Government will issue an advisory for doctors and paramedics working in emergencies and at the forefront to curb spread of the virus: Special assistant.
• Mirza says 20,000 tests will be conducted daily by end of April.

(Karachi) Special Assistant to Prime Minister for Health Zafar Mirza has said it would not to be right to relate all deaths occurring in the country to the coronavirus.

Addressing a media briefing in Islamabad on Friday, he said laboratory test is the primary method of ascertaining whether a person has died of coronavirus or not.

He maintained that tests should be conducted to ascertain the reason of unexplained deaths. Mirza said that the government will issue an advisory for doctors and paramedics working in emergencies and at the forefront to curb spread of the virus. "The advisory will contain instructions on  carrying out tests of people infected with the disease."

He said the Sindh government's move to initiate the process of contact tracing after cases of unexplained deaths surfaced is a welcoming sign.

He highlighted that by the end of this month,20,000 tests will be conducted daily as the country has one million testing kits.

So far, more than 7,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported in Pakistan while 137 people have died of the disease. Of the total number, 2,217 patients are in Sindh, 3,301 in Punjab, 993 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 305 in Balochistan, 154 in Islamabad, 245 in Gilgit-Baltistan and 46 cases in Azad Kashmir.