A labourer in Lahore’s Sikandaria Colony in Samanabad has infected at least 39 other people - and a suspected 170 more
A total of 57 houses in 4 locations of the Colony are under lockdown after 39 confirmed Coronavirus cases emerged there

“We have locked down 59 houses so far from where 209 people were declared suspected carriers of coronavirus,” Iqbal Town Division Superintendent of Police (SP) operations retired Capt Mohammad Ajmal told Dawn

He said that one resident of Sikandaria Colony transmitted virus to 39 others in the area, including his family members, neighbours who were in close contact with him.

The ‘super spreader’, a labourer, had visited Karachi to see his sister and on his return complained of flu, dry cough and fever, he said, adding that being uneducated, the man kept on seeing his relatives and neighbours in spite of having symptoms of coronavirus.

The labourer tested positive on April 5. The health teams collected samples of his 43 close contacts the same day and the reports received on April 7 confirmed that 9 were infected

Following the alarming number of confirmed patients, the health teams conducted random sampling of 43 more people of the same area on April 8 and 10 more tested positive

87 more people who were in contact with the 10 confirmed virus carriers were tested on Apr 10 & 19 were infected. 36 people who were in contact with the 19 confirmed patients were tested on April 12 & their results are awaited