Islamabad: Pakistan’s Senate Member from Balochistan Kalsoom Parveen passed away due to COVID-19 on Monday.
She was admitted to a private hospital in Islamabad last month and was put on ventilator a few days ago when her health deteriorated.
Parveen, 75, was representing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Balochistan’s seat in the Upper House of the Parliament since 2015.
According to a statement from her family, Parveen had developed COVID-19 symptoms last month and had quarantined herself at home.
However, later she was admitted to a private hospital on Nov 28 and died at the same hospital Monday morning.
Madrassah activities suspended
Meanwhile, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has suspended all educational activities at madressahs (religiuos seminaries) across the province in view of the increasing number of COVID-19 cases during the second coronavirus wave.
According to a notification issued by the Home Department of the province, all the academic activities at the religious seminars stand suspended till further orders.
According to KP Home Secretary Ikramullah Khan the decision has been taken in the larger public interest. He appealed to the religious scholars to cooperate with the government till pandemic is over.
The Sindh government has sealed three restaurants of Karachi’s five-star Pearl Continental over violations of coronavirus SOPs. According to the South District’s Deputy Commissioner office, the restaurants ‘Sakura’, ‘Tai Pan’ and ‘Chandni’ were sealed because they were offering indoor dining service, which is banned under the latest restrictions.
New infections declining
Meanwhile, Pakistan reported 1,792 new cases of COVID-19 in a period of 24 hours, which is the lowest daily tally of infections since Nov 9.
With these new figures, the country’s total number of cases reached 458,968 while with 62 deaths in the last one day, Pakistan’s death toll has reached 9,392.
During the last 24 hours, Pakistan reported 40,491 active cases of COVID-19 while the number of tests conducted in this period were 34,772, according to the country’s COVID-19 database.
Special Assistant to the PM on Health, Dr Faisal Sultan has indicated that COVID-19 vaccination was expected to begin from the first quarter of 2021 in Pakistan.
It will be a mass vaccination drive starting of course from the frontline health workers, doctors, paramedics and senior citizens, he said while talking to the media.
To a question, he said, Pakistan would be able to get corona vaccine from more than one resource, good price and reasonable timeline.
Pakistan has been in touch with six of the world’s top companies, including the Chinese and the Russian, keeping in mind its resources and financial constraints.
