Coronavirus infections among healthcare workers in Pakistan have increased by 75 per cent in a week, authorities confirmed.
The National Emergency Operation Centre, in a previous report cited by Dawn on April 23, revealed that at least 253 healthcare workers in the country had been infected by the coronavirus. But in a recent report, released on Thursday, the Centre divulged that the number had now jumped by 191, or 75 per cent, to 444.
The latest report, which has data up until April 29, shows 216 doctors, 67 nurses and 161 healthcare staff have tested positive across the country up until now. Of these, 204 are in isolation at homes, 138 are admitted to hospitals while 94 have recovered from the virus.
Eight healthcare workers have died from the coronavirus so far. The first known COVID-19 fatality among the local medical community occurred in Gilgit Baltistan when a young doctor, Usama Riaz, succumbed to the disease in March.
Early last month, Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro from Sindh became the province's first COVID-19 fatality from the medical community.
Last week, a senior doctor at Peshawar's Hayatabad Medical Complex passed away due to coronavirus. He had been working in the hospital's COVID-19 ward.
According to the report, three healthcare workers have died from the virus in Sindh, two in Gilgit Baltistan and one each in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad.
The highest number of those infected by the virus in the medical community is from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 103, while Punjab is close behind at 102. The number of health workers infected in Sindh is 86 although doctors in the province maintain the number is closer to 162.
The number of infected healthcare workers in Balochistan is 90, 41 in Islamabad, 18 in GB and four in Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir respectively.
Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, Dr Zafar Mirza, on Thursday said that the government was "worried about medical workers" and would soon launch a programme for the protection of medical staff working on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Doctors and paramedical staffs have been continuously protesting against the government for the lack of protective equipment in the country.
Doctors have been at odds with the government over lockdown measures, calling for the enforcement of a complete lockdown amid a rising number of coronavirus cases. Last week, a group of female doctors in Karachi warned people against coming out unnecessarily from their homes during the pandemic outbreak, saying that the pressure on doctors would "decrease" if people listened and stayed home.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan rose to 17,439 on Friday. Sindh took the lead with 6,675 cases, followed by Punjab reporting 6,340 cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 2,627 cases, Balochistan 1,049 cases, Islamabad 343 cases, Gilgit-Baltistan 339 cases, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 146 cases and PoK 66 cases.
The total number of deaths in the country stood at 391.
( With inputs from ANI )