파키스탄 코로나바이러스 확진자 추가 발견···순례자 900명 이란에 발 묶여

[아시아엔=나시르 아이자즈 <아시아엔> 파키스탄 특파원] 파키스탄에서 두 건의 코로나바이러스 환자가 추가로 발생했다고 자파르 미르자 보건부총리의 특별 보좌관이 확인했다.

자파르 미르자는 이슬라마바드에서 가진 기자회견에서 “코로나바이러스가 2건 더 발생했으며 하나는 신드주에서, 다른 하나는 타 지역에서 보고됐다”고 말했다.

이 환자와 접촉한 사람들도 격리되었다고 보건부가 확인했다.

파키스탄 정부가 이란과의 국경을 폐쇄하기 전, 약 1400명의 파키스탄 출신 순례자들은 신드 지방에서 이란으로 이동했다. 현재 이들 중 932명이 이란에 발이 묶여있는 상태다.

신드 주정부는 각 병원마다 격리 병동을 설치하고 이란에서 오는 사람들에게 그들의 자녀가 입국한 날로부터 최소한 14일 동안 학교에 가지 못하도록 권고했다.

주정부는 또한 진단 키트 외에 100만개 이상의 마스크를 조달할 것을 결정했다. 또한 이란에서 온 순례자들의 위치를 파악하기 위해 별도의 실무팀을 꾸렸다. <요약·번역 송재걸 기자>

다음은 기사 전문입니다.

Two more coronavirus patients detected in Pakistan
By Nasir Aijaz

Islamabad/Karachi: Two more cases of the coronavirus have emerged in Pakistan, confirmed Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, Dr. Zafar Mirza on Saturday.

“We have received reports of two more positive cases of coronavirus, one has been reported in Sindh province, and the other in federal areas,” Zafar Mirza, said during a press conference in Islamabad.

In Karachi, the provincial capital, Sindh Health Department confirmed in a special meeting convened by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah that a patient, 65 years of age, who had returned from Iran, had been diagnosed with the infection in Karachi at 05:00pm on Saturday.

The patient and those who came into contact with him have also been quarantined, confirmed the provincial health department.

Chief Minister was told that latest patient arrived in Pakistan from Iran on February 20. The man’s family has been quarantined in their home. About 1419 pilgrims had gone to Iran from Sindh province, of which 932 are still there.

The Pakistan government had opened the border with Iran on Friday after keeping it closed for five days. The reason behind reopening the border was that about 7000 to 8000 Pakistani pilgrims had gathered at Taftan land border in Balochistan province, and were trying to cross over through other routes.

The provincial government of Sindh had immediately contacted to Balochistan government to keep the pilgrims under quarantine before allowing them to travel to Sindh. However, several pilgrims including the persons detected positive, has flown in from Iran.

The Sindh provincial government has setup isolation wards in hospitals and issued advisory to those coming from Iran not to allow their children to the schools at least for 14 days from date of their arrival.

The provincial government has also ordered procurement of over one million face masks besides test kits for diagnosis of patients. It has also sent teams to locate the pilgrims who came from Iran and are living in different towns of province without reporting to the health authorities.

In the meantime, the traders have started taking mileage of the situation and are selling the masks at sky-rocketing prices.