Coronavirus pandemic has turned on the alarming situation across the world and everyone is conscious about getting infected by the virus in their countries and regions. For good long, Pakistan was safe as there was not a single patient suffering from this contagious disease, however, the traveling of some individuals from China to Pakistan and vice versa became the source of transmitting this virus to Pakistan.
Sindh has been largely infected by the Coronavirus as per the statistics and the reason was actually the traveling of the individuals to Iran and other countries who have already been fighting the disease. According to the recent reports, a total of 447 patients have so far been diagnosed positive of coronavirus in Pakistan, out of which 245 are only from Sindh. Punjab has 78 patients, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) has 23, Islamabad has 7, Balochistan has 81 while Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) reported 12 and 1 confirmed cases respectively.
What are the Symptoms?
The symptoms are somewhat similar to that of routinely flu but this time, you shouldn’t take it lightly as no one knows if it is coronavirus troubling with your health or seasonal flu. So it is better to get yourself properly checked even if you feel any of the following symptoms:
What You Need to Know if You are in Pakistan?
Here is a list of important thing you should know if you are in Pakistan:
- Patient doubting that they are showing symptoms of coronavirus, should visit a government-designated public or private hospital. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH, all district headquarter hospitals and tertiary care hospitals across the country are equipped to collect samples for coronavirus.
- A patient will be checked by the doctor for symptoms to determine if he or she may have coronavirus
- The patient will be asked some questions regarding their travel history as well as of those they have been in close contact with.
- If the doctor rules out that there is no suspicion of coronavirus, the patient will be sent back.
- If the doctor comes to the conclusion that the patient is showing symptoms, a swab of their saliva is taken and sent to one of the designated facilities that have coronavirus testing equipment.
- This testing will be done free of cost.
Designated Testing Facilities for Coronavirus in Pakistan
As per the information, note that the facilities below are only sending samples for free testing to the main centers and will not conduct tests themselves on individual requests. However, some private labs are also independently testing individuals for the virus against a fee.
Punjab
- Services Hospital – Lahore
- Nishtar Hospital – Multan
- Benazir Hospital – Rawalpindi
AJK
- Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan Hospital – Muzaffarabad
- Abbas Institute of Medical Sciences – Muzaffarabad
- Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahayan Hospital – Rawalakot
- Divisional Headquarters Hospital – Mirpur
- District Headquarters Hospital – Kotli
Sindh
- Chandka Medical College Hospital – Larkana
- Ghulam Muhammad Mahar Medical College – Sukkur
- Peoples Medical University Hospital – Nawabshah
- Civil Hospital – Karachi
- Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre – Karachi
- Lyari General Hospital – Karachi
- Indus Hospital – Karachi
- Aga Khan Hospital – Karachi
- Dow University of Health Sciences, Ojha – Karachi
- District Health Offices (DHOs) all over the province
Gilgit-Baltistan
In Gilgit-Baltistan, citizens can contact district health authorities who will come to their homes to collect samples.
KPK
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Police Services Hospital has been made the main center for dealing with coronavirus cases.
Along with these designated facilities, citizens can visit their nearest public tertiary healthcare center or district headquarter hospital for screening.
Precautionary Measures to be Taken
Here are some of the precautionary measures you can take to stay safe from coronavirus:
Stay Safe Everyone!
