The Punjab government is trying to trace 1,012 suspected carriers of the deadly coronavirus in various areas of the province, a local news outlet reported on Tuesday.
Citing official figures, the report stated that these suspected carriers, who are scattered in Lahore, Sialkot and Punjab, have been included in the final tally of the confirmed cases until they test negative for the virus. Of these 1,012 suspected carriers, 691 are in Lahore, 87 in Sialkot and 72 in Multan.
The report also quoted Punjab’s Specialised Healthcare and Medical Education Department Deputy Secretary Mudasir Ahmed as saying that these are contacts of confirmed coronavirus patients who are likely to be infected. The official said that they are gathering their phone numbers and addresses of these suspected patients and there is a “big and successful mechanism” in place for contract-tracing in the province.
Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Director Operations Nisar Ahmed told the news outlet that they already know where all the positive cases are, so the people they came into contact with must also be carriers of the virus. He added that they were currently trying to trace these suspected carriers.
Punjab has over 5,700 confirmed cases of the deadly virus, the highest among all provinces and autonomous regions of the country.
