LAHORE – The Punjab Health Department and local administration proposed a complete lockdown in the provincial capital as the Covid-19 positivity ratio climbed to 19 percent.
The positivity rate in five cities of Punjab was recorded at 15 percent while the hospitals are facing a shortage of ventilators and beds as the number of critical patients climbed in last three weeks.
Punjab Health Minister Prof Dr. Yasmin Rashid has also intimidated that if precautionary measures are not taken, the situation in Lahore and other cities will worsen.
Explaining the alarming situation in the Punjab capital, she said there are zero ventilators at the Jinnah Hospital, Services Hospital, Gangaram Hospital, and Kot Khawaja Saeed Teaching Hospital while the Outpatient Department treatment section of the Jinnah Hospital has also been closed for the public.
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Besides the shortage of ventilators, oxygen beds at hospitals across Lahore have also reached their 70 percent capacity.
We don’t have any other option rather than the complete lockdown in Lahore however the final decision will be taken by the Punjab government, the provincial health minister added.
Meanwhile, 58 people lost their lives due to novel coronavirus while 4,584 fresh cases have reported in the last 24 hours. The death toll has surged to 15,501 while the number of confirmed cases stands at 725,602.
Pakistan records 4,584 new Covid-19 cases, 58 deaths in a day
