Coronavirus: Pilgrims from Taftan border, virus carriers?
Lahore, 19th March: According to the reports of Baaghi TV, around 241 confirmed cases of a novel coronavirus in Pakistan are in the people who went on pilgrimages to Iran — one of the countries hardest-hit by the disease.
Pakistan shares a 960-kilometer border with Iran, with the main crossing point at Taftan in Balochistan province.
Nearly 1,000 people have since died, making Iran the third-hardest-hit country after China and Italy.
The Taftan border has been closed since March 16, but thousands of Pakistan pilgrims who were visiting religious sites in Iran have been allowed to return subject to two weeks’ quarantine.
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They are then also expected to undergo a further two weeks quarantine in their home towns.
It is believed that these pilgrims from Iran have brought the novel coronavirus in Pakistan and further negligence by our government has led to the spread of the disease.
It has been reported that the pilgrims who had returned from Iran through the Taftan border were not properly isolated at the quarantine camp in Taftan where they were kept initially, neither were there any coronavirus test kits to determine the presence of the virus in them.
To top it all, the camp was not visited by any doctor for the first ten days and the supposed medical staff present at the quarantine camps only took the temperatures of the pilgrims and no blood sample was taken due to the absence of the test kits.
The expert medical doctors that were supposed to reach the site were not to be seen tending the patients, this negligence led to the poor screening and the care of the people right from the beginning.
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According to the reports of the Sindh Government around 500 pilgrims were sent to Iran through Taftan, 300 of them were discharged from the quarantine camp near Taftan without proper screening and tests, however, 173 of these people when reached Sukkar and were tested, they turned positive for the coronavirus.
The poor health conditions in the isolation near the Taftan border has led to the further spread of the disease within the country, people are seen sitting close together and without following any hygiene, they are not properly looked after and tested.
When these people reach their respective cities they become a carrier of the virus, thus putting the lives of many under threat.
It is appealed to the Government of Pakistan to look into this matter and conduct a proper screening, tests, and treatment of the pilgrims that had arrived from Iran and further stop their entry so as to contain the spread of the virus.
Stay tuned to Baaghi TV for further updates.
