Pakistan has confirmed the first two deaths from the coronavirus pandemic. Both deaths were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, one in its capital Peshawar and the other in Mardan district.
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The first victim was a 50-year-old man who recently returned to Mardan after performing the Umrah pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The second victim was a 36-year-old man from KP’s Hangu district, who passed away at a hospital in Peshawar.
Sadly, a second patient in LRH Peshawar, a 36 yr old, from Hangu, has also passed away, from the Corona Virus.
— Taimur Khan Jhagra (@Jhagra) March 18, 2020
In a tweet, Pakistan’s State Minister for Health Zafar Mirza said the man “developed fever, cough, and breathing difficulty” after coming to Pakistan and tested positive for COVID-19.
The number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan soared to 304, with 208 in the southern Sindh province alone. Most of the new cases had recently returned from Iran, which has the highest number of cases and deaths after China and Italy.
Earlier, Pakistan PM Imran Khan warned of a possible spread of the virus in the country, if people did not “act responsibly”. “The virus will spread in the country as the countries with better facilities than us could not contain it. But there is no need to panic. Together we will face and live up to this challenge”, Khan said.
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In neighbouring India, the total number of coronavirus cases in India has climbed to 170. The total cases in India include 32 foreign nationals — 17 from Italy, seven from Indonesia, three from the Philippines, two from the UK, one each belonging to Canada, Indonesia and Singapore. India’s tally of 170 also includes three deaths reported from Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra
