139 health workers test positive for coronavirus in 24-hours, two dead    

KARACHI: Health workers dealing with coronavirus pandemic at frontline continued to suffer from the infection on Monday as 139 more tested positive for the virus while two of them died from it during last 24 hours, ARY NEWS reported.

According to statistics released by Ministry for National Health and Emergency Services, the total number of health workers affected from coronavirus in Pakistan has reached 2,193 as 23 of them lost their battle against the infection.

Doctors remained most affected from the virus as 82 of them were diagnosed with COVID-19 during 24-hours, raising their numbers to 1,232 across the country.

As many as 333 nurses have also contracted the infection as they treat virus patients on the frontline. Overall 628 paramedics have been affected from novel coronavirus in the country, the report showed.

It further showed that 196 of the health workers are still being treated for the infection across the country in hospitals with seven of them put on ventilators due to their critical heath condition.

“1185 of them are self-isolating at their homes,” it said as 789 health workers were discharged after being recovered from the infection.

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It is pertinent to mention here that Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza on Sunday gave a briefing to the National Coordination Committee (NCOC) on Coronavirus while also discussing new strategies to tackle the menace.

SAPM Mirza in his briefing said that the government was planning on hiring retired government doctors under contract to curb the dearth of doctors and paramedics in the country amidst the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.