At least 49 detainees were infected with the new coronavirus in a prison in Lahore (east), in which an alleged drug trafficker returning from Italy had been locked up, authorities said, an indication of the high contagion in prisons in Pakistan.
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" The Punjab has so far 1918 cases of Covid-19. (...) 49 are in quarantine in (the prison of) Camp Jail ", announced in the night of Monday to Tuesday Usman Buzdar, the chief of this province of more than 100 million inhabitants, on Twitter. " They came into contact with the first prisoner who tested positive on March 23, " Amir Rauf Khawaja, a prison services official from Punjab, told AFP. A Pakistani man arrested for drug trafficking had been placed in this prison on March 9 when he returned from Italy. Fourteen days after his incarceration, he had tested positive, according to Khawaja. Transferred to a hospital, “ part of the prison (where he lived) was confined, the prisoners who were there placed in quarantine. The area was sprayed with chlorine to get rid of the virus, "he said, denying any" neglect ".
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The announcement of the first case of the new coronavirus in a Pakistani prison had caused serious concern among human rights organizations. Pakistani detainees sleep on the floor , " on mats ", " soap and water are often available ", health workers are lacking. Because of the promiscuity, " there is no chance that (the prisoners) will not be infected, " Sana Farrukh, lawyer for the NGO Justice Project Pakistan, told AFP. “ The conditions of detention in Pakistani prisons expose even the healthiest detainees to the risks of infectious diseases. The Covid-19 will spread like fire in a prison, "said Amnesty International.
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Camp jail, which is overcapacitated like most Pakistani penitentiaries, welcomes 3,500 prisoners, according to these NGOs, which have called on the authorities to release detainees to prevent the spread of the disease. If 519 prisoners were indeed released in Sindh (South), the Supreme Court then blocked any new initiative of this kind.
At least 3,864 people have Covid-19 in Pakistan, 54 of whom died. The number of positive cases is underestimated due to the lack of tests in this country of more than 200 million inhabitants with a failing health system.