Pakistan conducts highest number of coronavirus tests in a day

4:48 AM

Over 40,000 coronavirus tests, the highest so far, were conducted across Pakistan on Wednesday, according to Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar.

In a tweet on Thursday, he said that a “significant build-up” has been made in virus testing at educational institutions in order to identify early trends.

The minister said that the method of sentinel testing is being used. According to the World Health Organisation, a sentinel surveillance system is used when high-quality data is needed about a particular disease that cannot be obtained through a passive system. The data collected through this process is used to signal trends and identify outbreaks.

So far, the rate of positive cases in the schools is below 2%, Umar added.

On September 15, higher education institutions across Pakistan reopened and the governments, both federal and provincial, have been randomly testing teachers, school staff and students for the coronavirus ever since.

According to data released by the federal education ministry on Wednesday, a total of 606 positive cases have been reported from schools countrywide so far.

On Thursday, government schools in Sialkot reported a total of seven COVID-19 cases. The number includes both teachers and students. Following the results, the schools have been sealed.

September 15 saw universities, colleges and classes IX and X restarting. On September 23 (Wednesday), secondary classes everywhere in Pakistan except Sindh resumed. More tests are expected to be conducted.

As of September 24, Pakistan has reported 799 new coronavirus cases. Five more people lost their lives to the virus. The highest number of cases were reported in Sindh and Punjab.



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