Pakistan Records More Than 100 Virus Cases In 1 Day, 2 Dead

Pakistan on Wednesday reported its first two deaths due to the deadly coronavirus that has infected 301 people across the country.

"Sad to report one patient who passed away in Mardan," Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra tweeted late Wednesday night.

Within two hours after the tweet, Jhagra again announced that a second coronavirus death was also reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The minister tweeted that the patient, a 36-year old person from Hangu district, died in a hospital in Peshawar.

The number of cases in the worst-hit Sindh province reached to 208 on Wednesday after 19 people in Karachi tested positive, said Meeran Yousuf, the media coordinator of the health and population welfare minister. She said the province recorded total 36 new cases on Wednesday.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said the number of coronavirus cases in his province rose to 33 on Wednesday.

"I can confirm that there are 33 confirmed #COVID19 patients in Punjab. 20 quarantined in Dera Ghazi Khan tested positive & have been shifted to hospital. 6 patients in Lahore, 5 in Multan and 2 in Gujrat are also under treatment," he tweeted.

Majority of Pakistan's COVID-19 cases are linked to those who went on pilgrimage to Iran, one of the countries hardest-hit by the disease, while less than half a dozen are locally transmitted.

Pakistan shares a 960-kilometre border with Iran, with the main crossing point at Taftan in Balochistan province.

The Taftan border has been closed since March 16, but thousands of Pakistan Shia pilgrims who were visiting religious sites in Iran have been allowed to return subject to two weeks'' quarantine.