Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Tuesday said that Pakistan has been leading in coronavirus testing capacity against India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

She was addressing a press conference in Multan after visiting the medical facilities in Nishter Hospital.

As per the government’s portal, Pakistan has 9,246 positive COVID-19 patients while there are 4218 (23 new patients) in Punjab. So far, 728 (six today) patients successfully recovered which is 17% ratio. 45 patients died due to coronavirus in the province.

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In Multan, there are 457 Iran-returned Zaireen with COVID-19 positive and 47 citizens, according to Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department.  

The health minister claimed that the Supreme Court has given the remarks for Punjab that, “Punjab is going in the right direction.”

She said she asked Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi that she herself would inquire the situation in Nishter Hospital, Multan. She said Tayyep Erdogan Hospital has 35 ventilators of their own. “The ration in Punjab is 1.8 percent to 1.9,” she added.

“Punjab will reach 5,000 tests daily this week as we have given facilitates in all districts while the province has 28000 quarantine facility for coronavirus patients.”

The newly inducted 28000 doctors and paramedics have been distributed all over Punjab as a well as newly received 279 ventilators were also distributed on merit.

In Multan Tertiary Care Hospital Nishter-II worth Rs 11 billion is being constructed.

There are 47 patients in coronavirus in Nishter Hospital and seven patients are on ventilators.

“We are going for random testing in Lahore and we will conduct 12000 tests overall,” Yasmin Rashid said.

As per the statistics, Pakistan has conducted 98,522 tests so far while India has tested around 27,824 samples for the coronavirus (COVID-19) while concerns continue to grow in Bangladesh over the country's limited coronavirus testing capacity, with experts urging the government to focus on increasing daily tests to ensure a successful fight against the pandemic. As per Bangladesh government data, Bangladesh had tested 21,191 people by18 April. A total of 2,144 people have tested positive so far, 84 of whom have died and 66 have recovered. As per the reports, Sri Lanka carried out around 150 PCR tests on average between March 25 and 30 and it has increased that up to 300 against the actual demand of 15000 tests per day.