Avoid unwarranted virus panic, UAE tells residents
dubai — The UAE, a major air transit centre, is ready for “worst case scenarios” as the coronavirus spreads in the Middle East, a government official said on Wednesday.
Three Gulf Arab states recorded their first new coronavirus cases this week, all in people coming from Iran, which on Wednesday reported a total of 19 virus-related deaths and 139 cases.
Authorities in the UAE, which has reported 13 cases since January 28, have enough facilities to quarantine patients and will be carrying out surveillance on people entering the country, said the official from the UAE National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority. It was too early to ban public gatherings in the business, trade and tourism hub, added the official. “We are quite satisfied that we have taken all the necessary steps needed to preempt the spread of the virus at all levels, without pushing the country into a state of unwarranted panic,” the official said. —
islamabad — The first two cases of the novel coronavirus in Pakistan have been confirmed, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said in a tweet on Wednesday, days after Islamabad closed its land border with Iran, where 19 people have died from the virus.
“I can confirm first two cases of coronavirus in Pakistan. Both cases are being taken care of according to clinical standard protocols and both of them are stable,” he wrote.
“No need to panic, things are under control,” Dawn News quoted him as saying, adding he will hold a Press conference today on his return from Taftan, the border crossing with Iran.
Mirza’s tweet came moments after the Sindh health department announced that a young man had tested positive for the coronavirus in Karachi. The 22-year-old male patient travelled to Iran where he acquired the virus, Media Coordinator to the Health and Population Welfare Minister Meeran Yousuf said in a statement.
The patient travelled from Iran
to Karachi by plane on February 20. He and his family have been placed in quarantine and the Health Department is in the process of examining all the passengers that he travelled with.
Speaking to DawnNewsTV, Yousuf said the man had started showing symptoms while he was in Iran. His tests were carried out at the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) which turned out to be positive, she said.
Challenges
Meanwhile, in areas along the border with Iran there are growing fears over how the country would deal with a potential outbreak. Islamabad has a history of failing to contain infectious diseases such as polio, tuberculosis and hepatitis.
“If such a contagious illness were to enter the country, one can only imagine the toll it would take on the already overburdened and under-resourced healthcare system,” read an editorial in the English daily Dawn.
Indeed, some Pakistani students trapped in the Chinese city of Wuhan said recently they were nervous about returning to their country if authorities were to evacuate them.
“We are worried about how the authorities are going to treat us when we go back to Pakistan — some students who went back told us the officials treated them very badly,” Ruqia Shaikh said. —