Three more test positive for COVID-19 in Lower Chitral

PESHAWAR: Three more test positive in Lower Chitral in just one day.

One day after emergence of the first coronavirus case in Chitral, three more patients on Monday tested positive, taking the tally to four in the district.

The patients confirmed for the disease on Monday are: Sher Nawaz, 25, son of Khalil Khan of Barzen, Garam Chashma. He works as a staff nurse in Upper Dir and was quarantined in Chitral.

This patient had a travel history to Karachi, sources told ChitralToday

Shams Akber, 44, son of Abdul Ghaffar, resident of Chumorkhon, Koh. He was quarantined at commerce college hostel on April 18. He had also returned from Karachi.

Rehmat Wali, 63, son of Azizullah,Tordeh, Chumorkhon. He was also quarantined on April 18 after his return from Islamabad.

Chitral remained free of the virus till the first case emerged on April 19.

With the four cases reported so far, it transpired that all the patients had travelled to and come back to Chitral from different parts of the country.

There has for long been reservations about screening and quarantining of the returnees to Chitral. So far, the government has not provided any testing kits to any of the two districts of Lower and Upper Chitral.

What the local administrations did was taking all those returning from different cities to schools, hotels and other government buildings and keep them there for 14 days.

The inmates complained that the rooms where they were kept lacked basic facilities and they were crammed into small rooms.