LAHORE: There is no let up in casualties due to Covid-19 pandemic, as 40 more fatalities were reported in Punjab including 14 in Lahore, 10 in Rawalpindi, and 11 in Muzaffargarh during the last 24 hours taking the death toll in the province to 11,410.
During the last 24 hours, 14 deaths were reported from Lahore, 10 in Rawalpindi, 11 in Muzaffargarh, two in Multan, one each in Faisalabad and Sargodha taking death toll in these cities to 4536, 1729, 313, 879, 1187 and 296, respectively.
Out of 19256 coronavirus tests conducted during the last 24 hours, as many as 969 fresh virus cases were reported across the province taking the provincial tally of cases to 373,719. The overall positivity rate of the virus in the province reached to 5.03%.
In the provincial metropolis, coronavirus situation is turning serious, as 418 fresh cases and 14 deaths were reported during the last 24 hours. In Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Multan, 130, 70 and 34 cases were reported in the last 24 hours. The vaccination of the people is underway at the vaccination centres as well as designated hospitals across the province.
With the recovery of 1385 more coronavirus patients, the number of recovered patients in the province reached to 340,766. On the other hand, as many as 4291 coronavirus recoveries were reported across the country taking the tally of total recoveries to 993,304 showing the recovery rate of 89.9 percent.
As per break-up of coronavirus cases and deaths in major cities of the province, Lahore has so far reported 191617 cases and 4536 deaths, Rawalpindi 31433 cases and 1729 deaths, Faisalabad 22655 cases and 1187 deaths, Multan 18902 cases and 879 deaths, Bahawalpur 8705 cases and 258 deaths, Gujranwala 8829 cases and 451 deaths, Muzaffargarh 2439 cases and 313 deaths, Sargodha 8832 cases and 296 deaths, Sheikhupura 4076 cases and 126 deaths and Sialkot reported 7658 cases and 241 deaths.
Moreover, the Institute of Public Health (IPH) and Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) will collaborate to impart training on the Minimum Service Delivery Standards (MSDS) to the qualified healthcare service providers and managers of the healthcare establishments of both public and private sectors.
In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed here on Tuesday by the Chairman Board of Management IPH Lt-Gen Khalid Maqbool (r), Chairperson Board of Commissioners PHC Prof Dr Attiya Mubarak Khalid.
Prof Zarfishan Tahir said the IPH would prepare modules of the MSDS, and institutionalize the training programme jointly with the PHC, which would surely bring improvement in the healthcare service delivery. She hoped that the MoU would prove to be an important milestone in the long run.
Prof Attiya Mubarak, while apprising the attendees about the PHC's regulatory framework, said the Commission had developed MSDS for 13 different types of healthcare establishments, which were being implemented across the province. She observed that the IPH and PHC were working towards the similar objective of bringing betterment in the healthcare service delivery.
On the other hand, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, while directing completion of the ongoing development projects said that work on all development projects is underway at full pace. She said that provision of facilities to people at their doorstep is the first priority of the government. We want to provide maximum relief in health to people of Punjab, she added in a meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021