47 people have tested negative for coronavirus in Punjab: Yasmin Rashid.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Friday said that out of 48 suspected coronavirus cases in the province, 44 persons had tested negative and had been sent home. She was speaking at a news conference in Lahore to give updates on the situation.

She added that three more of the suspected cases tested negative on Friday while the result of one of them was awaited.

Talking about pilgrims who had returned to Punjab from Iran, she said that out of "3,056 pilgrims, 2,700 have been screened and sent home" and another "2,500 people are under quarantine at the Taftan border."

Dismissing rumours that the Punjab government is not prepared to deal with the virus, she said: "We have formed a new technical team, even now it is having a meeting at Chief Minister House to decide when to establish red lines such as at what number of cases we will ban public gatherings and close schools." She added that more than 10,000 people have been trained to deal with possible coronavirus cases.

Rashid said that China had managed to control the spread of the virus only through "restriction of movement". She added that the Punjab government is creating a strategy to prevent an outbreak. "We receive a report after every four hours and our surveillance centre is operating 24 hours a day."

She said that the provincial government had dedicated three hospitals for coronavirus in the province - the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Transplantation, which is fully equipped with ventilators, medicines, masks and other protective equipment, Recep Tayyip Erdogan Hospital in Muzaffargarh and Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute in Lahore. She further said that a High Dependency Unit is present and rules for isolation are in place in every district of Punjab.

"We have a level-3 lab which is equipped with diagnostic kits and we have ordered additional diagnostic kits. Kits are also available at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer and Research...