RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: With 36 more deaths reported in the last 24 hours across Punjab, the death toll due to Covid-19 in the province has risen to 475, raising concerns among health professionals and people.

As many as 952 new cases of the novel coronavirus were reported, taking the provincial tally to 25,056, says a spokesman for the provincial primary and secondary healthcare department.

Sources claimed that the Punjab government has so far disbursed Rs960 million among the teaching hospitals of Punjab while overall around Rs5 billion has been spent on dealing with the corona pandemic.

Just the daily coronavirus tests (6,000 a day) cost the government between Rs25 million and Rs30 million, the sources added.

The number of people who have recovered from the coronavirus in Pakistan has exceeded 25,000 after 1,140 additional recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours.

Under the directives of the National Command and Control Center (NCCC), a mass awareness campaign is being initiated in Punjab which will be spearheaded by the Punjab chief minister, the sources said.

Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department Punjab has already requested the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to provide 2,000 ventilators immediately.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said in a briefing that the government was spending public money in a transparent manner, and all expenses were being updated on the official website.

On the other hand, spokesperson for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Marriyum Aurangzeb expressed her concerns over what she said “lack of facilities for the coronavirus patients” and asked the government where the ventilators were that had been imported.