Pakistan confirms 4 new coronavirus cases

By Islamuddin Sajid

ISLAMABAD (AA) - Pakistan on Sunday confirmed four new cases of the novel coronavirus, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 38, according to an official statement.

According to the Health Ministry of southern Sindh province, three patients who tested positive recently returned from Saudi Arabia.

"Sindh Health Department has 4 new cases of Corona Virus in Karachi. 3 patients returned from Saudi Arab a few days back & were tested positive today & 1 patient has no recent travel history," the provincial ministry said on Twitter.

The new cases brought the total number of confirmed cases in the Sindh province to 21, while the remaining cases were reported from the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, southwestern Balochistan province and capital Islamabad.

On Friday, Pakistan also closed all educational institutions across the country for the next three weeks and ordered “complete” sealing of the country’s borders with neighboring Iran and Afghanistan from March 16.

Also, the traditional Pakistan Day military parade, scheduled for March 23, was canceled.

After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the virus known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 141 countries and territories.

The global death toll from the virus has surpassed 5,700, with more than 152,000 cases confirmed worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.