Residents wear protective facemasks as a prevention measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus at a market in Quetta on February 27, 2020 as Pakistan has detected its first two cases of novel coronavirus. Pakistani authorities were scrambling on February 27 to screen hundreds of people who had recently arrived from Iran, which has emerged as a major hotspot for coronavirus, after Islamabad confirmed its first two infections. / AFP / Banaras KHAN Image Credit: AFP

Dubai: Pakistan has recorded 11 new coronavirus cases in Karachi bringing the totally number of infected people to 18 across the country.

The count on Monday — the highest of the epidemic since it was first detected in the country last month — took the total tally to 18 in the Sindh province. Pakistan’s financial hub and the largest city Karachi has been the worst affected so far, with 15 of the total confirmed cases. Two have been reported in Gilgit-Baltistan and one in Islamabad.

Dr Zafar Mirza, Pakistan’s State Minister for Health, confirmed the new cases. “I can confirm 9 new cases of COVID-19 in Karachi. All these cases are contacts of an already confirmed case. Further contacts are being traced and tested. This makes a total of 16 cases in Pakistan,” he tweeted.

“The confirmed cases in Karachi last evening are in stable clinical condition, almost all of them are asymptotic. They all had travel history and were picked up during contact tracing of an existing COVID19 patient,” Miraz tweeted on Tuesday.

Sindh Health Department reported two new cases of Coronavirus on Tuesday inlcuding one in Hyderabad. The patient had arrived from Syria via Doha. The second case is from Karachi and the patient arrived from Iran via Dubai. This brings the total number of cases to 15 in Sindh.

Six of the patients infected with coronavirus announced on Monday had returned to Pakistan from Syria via Doha while the other three arrived from London via Dubai. The first seven diagnosed cases had travelled to Pakistan from Iran.

Strict measures have been taken by the government, including extending border closure with Afghanistan for seven more days and installing screening machines at all major airports in the country.