national institute of health reported 11 new cases in sindh and 6 new in a mobile lab at the taftan border area. and the first case in punjab, increasing the tally to 53. on 16 march, a total of 134 new positives cases were registered, the majority of them, 116 in sindh. khyber pakhtunkhwa also reported its first 15 cases while 3 were found in balochistan. this marked the sharpest increase so far as not only were more than a 100 cases were reported in a province within a day but also the number across the country reached 187. the tally had shot up to 237 with 25 new cases in punjab, 12 in sindh and 4 in islamabad on 17 march. by 18 march, the first case of coronavirus was reported from azad kashmir. the provinces of sindh and gilgit-baltistan saw an increase of cases by 36 and 10 respectively. new cases were also reported in other provinces. a patient from hyderabad was also discharged after recovering in sindh province, making the total number of recovered cases 5. a total of 302 positive cases were confirmed in pakistan on 18 march. the first two deaths due to the virus in the country were also confirmed on the day. both were reported from the province of khyber pakhtunkhwa, the first being a 50-year-old man who had recently from saudi arabia to mardan district after performing umrah in mecca, while the second death was a 36-year-old from hangu district. both had been hospitalised in peshawar. the cases doubled by more than half from 33 to 80 in punjab, and from 23 to 81 in balochistan on 19 march. the rise in cases led the provincial government of balochistan to declare a health emergency and impose a ban on public transport. the provincial government spokesperson liaquat shahwani stated that a relief package will be provided to the employees of transport companies. with a total of 159 new cases, the number confirmed cases jumped to 461. 20–31 march – first deaths on 20 march, the first death was reported in sindh. the patient was a 77-year-old who had acquired the virus through local transmission. the patient was a cancer survivor and had other underlying medical problems such as hypertension and diabetes. while in other provinces, the increase in number of new cases was lower compared to the past few days at 34 and the tally stood at 495. on 22 march, the third death in khyber pakhtunkhwa was announced. the first death in gilgit-baltistan and balochistan were also announced on that day, meaning that the number of deaths increased to 6. the number of cases had also increased to 784 with 138 new cases. the fatality at dhq hospital in gilgit was a doctor who contracted the virus after screening pilgrims returning from iran. on 22 march, gilgit-baltistan went under lockdown for an indefinite period. 13 new pilgrims from taftan via dera ghazi khan were put in quarantine at mirpur. also on that day, descon donated 10,000 hand sanitisers to hospitals in punjab, whereas in balochistan 26 drivers who transported the positive covid-19 cases to hospitals were kept in quarantine. on 23 march, many doctors across the nation complained about the lack of proper equipment for battling the virus. a spokesman for doctors' union in khyber pakhtunkhwa said, "we do not have personal protective equipment (ppe), or goggles, and even masks we are buying from our own funds". arrangements were made on the day by the foreign office to bring 72 pakistanis stranded at the doha international airport in doha, qatar as it had decided to temporarily ban travellers from pakistan and 14 other countries early in the month. the passengers were subject to strict screening upon arrival. another flight was arranged to bring 150 citizens for the uae stranded at dubai and abu dhabi international airport. the sindh education minister saeed ghani tested positive for the virus and self-quarrantined for 14 days that day. he recovered from the virus on 30 march. on 24 march, sindh and balochistan observed lockdown until 7 april, while azad kahmsir went under it until 13 april respectively. punjab also imposed lockdown on 24 march, but only until 6 april. in sindh, the local police detained 472 people in various districts of the province the same day in violation of the lockdown, with 222 of them in karachi alone and a total of 72 firs were registered on 24 march. the cases pertained to hoarding and profiteering of safety masks and hand sanitisers, large gatherings, opening shops and restaurants, and travelling in passenger buses. the provincial government of sindh allowed 640 pilgrims quarantined in sukkur to return home after being tested negative for the virus. the chief minister issued directives for the relevant deputy commissioners to receive the pilgrims on their return and monitor their health conditions for the next 10 days. on 25 march, several restrictions were imposed in the capital territory of islamabad. these included closing of the outpatient departments of hospitals, complete bans on intra-city, inter-district and inter-province public transport as well as gatherings in public and private places. three new recoveries were announced as well as the eighth death in the country. the number of positive cases in the nation crossed 1,000 as the tally increased to 1,057. on 26 march 140 new cases were tested positive across pakistan. one new death was reported in punjab, meaning that the death toll increased to 9. the total number of cases reached 1,197. meanwhile, the number of recoveries increased by 2. on 27 march, pakistan reported a total of 211 new cases, the first time the number crossed 200. punjab also overtook sindh as the province with the highest number of cases at 490, while two deaths were also reported there. the national institute of health (nih) distributed n95 masks across sindh, while in khyber pakhtunkhwa, screeing teams were deputed at all district entry and exit points for the screening of visitors of covid-19 patients. in gilgit-baltistan, the local government decided that all travellers coming from the taftan border would be tested for covid-19. the total number of positive cases in the country reach 1408, while 3 patients were discharged, making the recovered cases a total of 26 and two deaths occurred, taking the total number of deaths to 11. the nih initiated district level trainings of high-dependency unit, isolation and quarantine staff across punjab. on 28 march, the foundation set up by the chinese billionaire jack ma and the alibaba group sent a second aircraft carrying various medical supplies to pakistan. the aircraft was received in karachi with at least 50,000 testing kits, large number of face masks, ventilators, and personal protective equipment (ppe), which were combined around two tonnes of supplies worth rs 67 million. the same day, pakistan allowed thai airways to resume its flight operation for islamabad to bring back 175 pakistanis stranded in bangkok, thailand. meanwhile, the government of punjab announced a rs 10 billion relief package for financial support of 2.5 million families of daily-wage earners. the country reported an additional 118 cases on 29 march, taking the total to 1,526. one death each was reported in the provinces of sindh and khyber pakhtunkhwa, taking the total number of deceased to 13. khyber pakhtunkhwa developed and disseminated quarantine discontinuation guidelines. also on the day, five pakistani nationals visiting india on medical visas returned home via the wagah border after being stranded in noida and new delhi due to the countrywide 21-day lockdown imposed by the indian government. two of them tested positive for the virus on 31 march. as the cases neared 500 in sindh, the cm of the province said that the data showed 25% of cases were due to local transmission. he stated, "the local transmission ratio is worrisome and needs to be contained further." on 30 march, pakistan reported the highest number of new cases in a single day for march at 240. the total number reached 1,865 while total recoveries stood at 58 with 25 deaths. the federal minister for science and technology chaudhry fawad hussain said that locally manufactured ventilators and testing kits would hit the market in the coming days. the coronavirus testing kits were developed by pakistan's national institute of virology based in karachi university and the national university of science and technology (nust) have been handed to the drug regulatory authority (drap) for final approval. while the pakistan engineering council (pec) developed ventilators, in collaboration with ned university of engineering and technology and pakistan engineering board, which were handed over to drap later in the week. he also said that the capacity of pakistan council of scientific and industrial research (pcsir) for production of hand sanitizers was enhanced. on 31 march 82 total recoveries were announced, as well as the 26th death in the country. 174 new cases were tested positive, meaning that the total number of positive cases had increased to 2,039. april 2020 confirmed cases by districts in pakistan since 17 june 2020 confirmed cases suspected cases on 1 april 252 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of cases to 2291, while the total number of recoveries in the country surpassed 100. a further 159 new cases were confirmed on 2 april, bringing the tally to 2450. four deaths were reported, two from sindh and one each from kp, and gilgit increasing the total to 35. the total cases increased to 2708 after 258 new cases were confirmed on 3 april, making punjab the first province to cross 1,000 confirmed cases. five deaths were reported. the number of confirmed cases crossed 3,000 around the nation on 5 april. the country recorded nearly a 1000 cases over the next two days and the tally reached a total of 4,005 on 7 april with 54 deaths and 429 recoveries. sindh became the second province to cross 1,000 confirmed cases after punjab on 8 april. on 11 april, the total cases surged over 5,000 leaving over 80 dead so far. the total number of recoveries in pakistan reached abover 1,000 on 12 april. the federal government decided on 14 april to extend the ongoing lockdown for two more weeks until 30 april. on 15 april, the national death tally surpassed 100 and the number of cases crossed 6000. on 16 april, it was reported that 58% of the cases had been locally transmitted in pakistan. khyber pakhtunkhwa crossed the mark of 1,000 confirmed cases on 18 april. a report released on 21 april stated that over 2,000; 27% of the total positive cases in the country were linked to the religious congregation of the tablighi jamaat. pakistan crossed a critical mark of the outbreak in the country as the total number of cases surged above 10,000 on 22 april. on 24 april, the federal government once again extended the lockdown in the country, this time until 9 may. in late april, a group of senior doctors in pakistan, and abroad, wrote to religious leaders and to the prime minister "pleading" not to open mosques during ramadan, particularly as 80% of the people attending would be mostly in their 60s and 70s. this could result in an "explosion of covid-19". the governor of sindh, imran ismail revealed on 27 april that he had tested positive for covid-19 via twitter. may 2020 by 7 may, covid-19 had infected more than 500 pakistani healthcare workers. on 9 may, the lockdown ended in pakistan. on 18 may 16 new fatalities were recorded in khyber pakhtunkhwa, bringing the death toll to 334 in the province. the next day, a further 11 fatalities were reported in the province, bringing the death toll to 345. on 19 may, it was reported that a 64-year-old patient in hyderabad, sindh, recovered after undergoing plasma therapy. on 21 may, the number of positive cases passed 48,000, after 2,193 new cases were announced. 32 new fatalities were recorded. the death toll reached 1,017, as the number of recoveries reached 14,155. planning minister asad umar said that pakistan could test 25,000 people a day. on 22 may, pakistan international airlines flight 8303 crashed on approach to jinnah international airport, killing 97 of the 99 people on board. the crash further stretched health resources, and led to a three-day long decline