Islamabad (Staff Report/Agencies): Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza has said that at least four Pakistani students studying in the Chinese city Wuhan are confirmed to have the coronavirus.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Dr Mirza said that a large proportion of the Pakistanis living in China were students of which over 500 students are based in the central city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the new virus.
There were four Pakistani students confirmed to have the coronavirus, he added.Mirza, however, said that no case of the coronavirus has been confirmed in Pakistan yet. He said an emergency operation center has been established in the ministry of health.
In addition an emergency core committee has also been constituted which meets daily to monitor the whole situation.
The Special Assistant said that a helpline will soon be made operational at the national level in order to keep the people updated about the Coronavirus.
The new virus has killed 132 people and infected more than 6,000 in mainland China and abroad so far.
Earlier, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to screen its passengers at the Beijing airport.
The spread of the pathogen – known by its technical name 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) – can cause respiratory diseases in animals, birds and humans.
