Life-Saving Drug For Critical Cases
The Punjab government has allocated 460 vials of Tocilizumab for 115 late-stage critical COVID-19 patients for treatment as well as clinical study. The drug has been supplied to 15 teaching hospitals in virus-hotspot cities of Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. 61 patients across six teaching hospitals in Lahore have received 244 vials of the drug, while Multan, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad have been supplied with 72 vials each.
Doctors will only administer the experimental drug with the consent of the patient, of the patient’s family, attendant or guardian.
49 Succumb To Virus In Punjab
49 people in Punjab preish due to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, raising total fatalities in the province to 809. 1,919 new cases emerged in Punjab on June 13, with Lahore accounting for 971. Currently, the province’s total recoveries stand at 9,546. A total of 327,072 tests have been carried out in Punjab till date.
Indigenous Test Kits Approved
The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has approved the development of COVID-19 testing kits developed by the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) after a series of successful clinical trials conducted on 330 blind samples. A development license will be granted to a local pharma manufacturing company by DRAP. Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry hailed the efforts of the N-CovKit development team, stating that locally developed kits will help eliminate import costs.
Virus Took 40 Healthcare Workers’ Lives
The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has released a list of 37 doctors and 3 paramedics lost to the virus till date – while some of the claimed lives were frontline workers directly involved in the treatment of COVID-19 patients, others were stationed in various departments and had contracted the virus through infected patients whom they were treating for other diseases. Per the list, 18 doctors in Punjab, nine in Sindh, five in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four in Balochistan, one in Gilgit-Baltistan, have succumbed to the virus while two paramedics from Karachi and one from Islamabad have also been lost.