A concerned citizen from Multan alerted me to this a couple of days ago but since I am based in Karachi there was no way to independently verify it - what I was told amounted to shocking negligence on the part of the Punjab Govt - but given the nature it had to be verified first

The person told me that Multan had received 1,253 returnees from Iran - they had spent time in quarantine & were to spend more time in quarantine in Multan - they were tested and 93 tested positive for coronavirus

After that the others were allowed to move around freely inside the quarantine centre - claiming that they had tested negative - they were to be tested again (two negative tests after a gap of 24 hours is the SOP before release of a patient)

There samples were taken and they were told that they must wait for the results to come as directed by health dept officials - however, they had already spent time at Taftan quarantine - and they were reportedly upset and wanted to go home - the local authorities said 'No'

But since the Iran returnees had spent time in quarantine in Taftan & had tested negative once, it was decided that they would be allowed to go to their native districts & be held in quarantine there till the results of the second test were known - they were taken in buses

They were taken to towns smaller then Multan, to places where there weren't really any resources to set up quarantine centres - but taken they were - and then when the results of the second test came it turned out that 451 of those who had been sent home had TESTED POSITIVE!

That would explain the sharp rise in Punjab's coronavirus cases, especially in among the Iran returnees housed in quarantine - first the situation at the quarantine in Multan was mishandled because those few who were infected were not separated from those who weren't

Furthermore, not all the people were tested - had that been done, those who tested positive could have been separated - then the sending back to their native districts was totally mishandled - they should have been kept in quarantine till the results of the 2nd test were known

Now the situation is that dozens of infected patients are now being kept in quarantine is smaller cities, and reportedly in many instances with no proper quarantine facilities