NDMA orders to convert all 3-4 star hotels into quarantine facilities

ISLAMABAD: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has asked provinces to convert all 3-4 star hotels into quarantine centres in fight against COVID-19. According to sources, the NDMA has written a letter to the federal interior secretary and all four provincial chief secretaries in this regard. The move comes after Pakistan witnessed an increase in the coronavirus cases. In the letter, the NDMA has said it is necessary to take preventative measures against the coronavirus as per the WHO guidelines. Sources said the hotels will be made into quarantine centres with one person to one room. The number of novel coronavirus cases surged to 299 in Pakistan with two confirmed deaths of persons returned home from foreign countries. The deceased persons were belonging to KP’s Mardan and Hangu. The deceased man Saadat Khan, resident of Mardan had been tested positive for coronavirus on March 17 after arriving back to Pakistan from Saudi Arabia post performing Umrah on March 9. Another patient 36-year-old, who lost his life due to the virus, was resident of Hangu. So far 208 cases of the virus have been reported in Sindh, said CM Murad Ali Shah, while the number of cases in Punjab stands at 33, according to CM Buzdar. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has reported, 17 cases, while in Balochistan the number has jumped to 23.  In Gilgit-Baltistan (GB)13, federal capital Islamabad has reported four cases and one infected with the virus in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).