Inside Punjab’s largest testing lab, staffers tackling virus reveal ‘war’ conditions

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Updated 26 April 2020
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Inside Punjab’s largest testing lab, staffers tackling virus reveal ‘war’ conditions

  • Major obstacle for lab staffers is human error and mishandling of samples at point of collection
  • There are 40 testing labs in Pakistan with 16 in Punjab alone

LAHORE: On a warm April morning, over a dozen microbiologists clock in to begin their eight-hour shift at the Public Health Reference Laboratory (PHRL) in Lahore.
Dressed in hazmat suits, the men and women move between three adjacent rooms, extracting and testing a colorless liquid.
The staff of more than 40 work around the clock in different shifts. 
There are no day offs, and breaks are short. 
“We even work on Sundays,” said Dr. Asim Altaf, secretary at the Punjab health care department, who supervises the lab, “That is how it is during war.” 
The laboratory is one of the largest testing facilities for coronavirus in Pakistan, and the largest in Punjab. On most days, it can diagnose up to 2,000 test samples. Of those tests, 1,100 are diagnosed on an automatic machine. In the rest, the genetic material has to be extracted manually. 
In this painstakingly long process, the main obstacle they face is human error on the stage when samples are collected.
Once a health care worker takes a swab from suspected COVID-19 patients, he or she must follow strict guidelines before dispatching it. Each swab, from the nose or throat, must be locked in a sealed tube, barcoded, zipped in a plastic bag and finally stored in a cool box for transportation.
However, some samples the lab receives are incorrectly barcoded, wrapped in plastic tape, or are not the right temperature to be tested, which leads to incorrect results.
“This really comprises the quality of the test conducted,” explains Dr. Andleeb Hanif, the head microbiologist at the PHRL and the focal person for laboratories in Punjab, “If a leaked tube is thrown in a plastic bag with others, and not kept separate, then it will contaminate the rest of the samples.”
This means that a sample of even one infected person can make samples from healthy people turn up as COVID-19 positive.
“The percentage of such errors is very high at the moment,” Dr. Altaf told Arab News. Recently, he received a batch of 800 samples from Bahawalpur in Punjab, of which only 261 could be processed. 

“The labels were wrong, the samples had leaked, the tags had rubbed off. This affects our testing capacity and accuracy.”
But Dr. Altaf’s department is rushing to fill the gap, so Punjab can increase its testing capacity from 4,200 to 5,000 in the coming days. The staff carrying out the tests are being retrained and a new system has been rolled out, in which the name, age and city of each patient will be barcoded. 
Still, he admits, much will depend on whether those shipping the samples follow guidelines.
A single test for the deadly virus costs the state about Rs2,800 ($18), according to the officials at the health department. One test kit is for between 24 and 50 people. Sometimes samples need to be taken twice, if there are doubts about accuracy.
There are kits that can fail to detect the virus if its quantity is little, explains Dr. Hanif, “China itself states that the kits it manufactures have a margin of error of 25 percent. So sometimes, we have to reverify.”
Apart from kits provided by the federal government to Punjab, which were bought from China, the Public Health Reference Laboratory has also procured kits from Turkey and the United Kingdom. The World Health Organization (WHO) has sent a separate consignment as well.
Pakistan has recorded over 12,500 COVID-19 cases and more than 265 related deaths. At least 42 percent of those who tested positive were in Punjab, the country’s most populous province. Local transmission stands at 79 percent, according to data from the National Command and Operation Center, which runs the country’s central database to track the virus. 
According to Dr. Altaf, no “super spreaders,” or individuals with mild symptoms who end up infecting a large population, have so far been detected in Punjab.  
“We are getting more samples from quarantine centers in the province, because there is a lot of circulation of the virus over there. Those people are exposed to each other and potentially one person can spread the virus to 100,” he said.
In a recent press briefing, Punjab chief minister Usman Buzdar said the province wants to significantly increase its testing capacity, aiming to take it up to 10,000 tests a day. Medical staff at the Public Health Reference Laboratory say it will increase pressure on them, until more labs open up. There are currently 40 testing facilities in the country, with 16 in Punjab alone.
What worries them more however, is not additional workload but the Punjab government’s decision to ease a three-week lockdown by reopening several industrial sectors and allowing congregational prayers at mosques.
“Of course, this will impact us,” said Dr. Hanif, “Even before the lockdown was eased, we were getting a lot of samples to test in a day.” She added that as local transmission is increasing in the country, and the province, “You’ll have less chances of knowing who is unknowingly carrying the virus. If you open the lockdown, you will have a lot of unknowns.”


Pakistani animal charity calls for donations to care for illegally trafficked exotic monkeys

Updated 3 min 7 sec ago
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Pakistani animal charity calls for donations to care for illegally trafficked exotic monkeys

  • Karachi Customs seized dozens of capuchins, marmoset monkeys from man who had imported them illegally, ACF says
  • ACF is housing animals in small enclosure, says needs money to build larger one and cater to monkeys’ food and care needs

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s troubled history with animal welfare is once more in the spotlight as a prominent animal rescue organization has called for donations to help care for dozens of exotic monkeys illegally trafficked to Karachi, saying it was temporarily holding the creatures while making arrangements to house them permanently.

The Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation announced last week customs officials had called the non-profit for help to care for dozens of capuchins and marmoset monkeys they had seized at Karachi airport from a man who had “sneakily” imported them by forging documents.

Capuchin monkeys and marmosets have been known to show fear behaviors in response to the loud call from a primate species unknown to them, and ACF said the animals were traumatized after being brought to Pakistan in small “coffin-like carriers” without any access to light. The charity also said they were starving.

“We urgently need your help for the bigger enclosure while we finalize where we are going to be sending them permanently,” said ACF, which has built a small temporary enclosure for the animals. “However, quarantine is four months anyway, and they are under treatment so they need a bigger place to be rehabilitated and quarantined where they can just relax some more and run around.”

A video shared by ACF on Monday showed the monkeys enjoying a platter of fruit.

“They all have got the rabies vaccinations and some of them are not well with multiple issues. But the joy on their face when they see the fruit platter for the first time is priceless,” the charity said. 

Founded in 2013, ACF says it rescues up to 40 abused animals daily and manages a sanctuary for 1,800 animals. 

A welfare organization said last week a black bear was rescued by local authorities in Pakistan’s Punjab province and shifted to Islamabad. The seven-year-old black bear called Rocky had been kept illegally in Punjab province and abused in 35 fights, the welfare organization said.

Last December, an elephant died at a safari park less than two weeks after being reunited with her sister, the latest tragedy to affect elephants in captivity in Pakistan.

In 2020, a pair of sick and badly neglected dancing Himalayan brown bears left a notorious zoo in Islamabad for a sanctuary in Jordan.

Kaavan became known as the “world’s loneliest elephant” because he spent many years alone in a Pakistani zoo. In 2020, he was moved to a sanctuary in Cambodia. 


Inflation, online platforms push traditional Ramadan calendars to extinction in Pakistan

Updated 6 sec ago
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Inflation, online platforms push traditional Ramadan calendars to extinction in Pakistan

  • Pinned to kitchen walls or mosque bulletin boards, Ramadan calendars helped Muslims track suhoor, iftar timings
  • Graphic designers and printers in Balochistan province report 70 percent decline in orders for printing of calendars

QUETTA: Traditionally pinned on kitchen walls inside homes or on mosque and community center bulletin boards, Ramadan calendars were once a staple in Pakistan, helping believers track suhoor and iftar times with precision during the holy month.

But inflation and the advent of the digital age have led to a decline in the printing and use of calendars that once provided access to the precise schedule for observing the holy month. Indeed, the calendars not only allowed Muslims to properly practice their religious duties like prayer and fasting, but also reminded them of key spiritual events like Laylat Al-Qadr, the night in Ramadan when Muslims believe the Qur’an was revealed, and Eid Al-Fitr, the celebration that caps the holy month.

Today, online platforms have significantly transformed Ramadan around the globe, making it easier for Muslims to access religious information on the Internet, connect with communities, manage their daily practices through apps, find recipes, and engage with Islamic content.

In southwestern Pakistan, the Fatima Jinnah Road in the city of Quetta has for decades been a hotspot for the designing and printing of religious calendars. This year, it was empty ahead of Ramadan, with printing press owners complaining they were facing an up to 70 percent decline in orders. 

“This trend [of Ramadan calendars] has decreased over the past two to three years,” 32-year-old pressman Kashif Riaz told Arab News, saying he had only received three orders this season. “Inflation and the use of social media are the prime causes of fading Ramadan calendar business in Balochistan [province].”

Kashif Riaz stands inside his printing press in Quetta Pakistan on February 27, 2025. (AN Photo)

The shift makes sense in a country like Pakistan, which has more than 111 million active Internet users and 71 million social media users on websites like Facebook, WhatsApp, X, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram, according to independent Internet monitor DataReportal.

“Last year, we received just one order for the designing and printing of Ramadan calendars but for this season, we haven’t received any order,” Zakir Shah, who works at the Al-Subhan designing and printing firm in Quetta, told Arab News. 

“We used to consider Ramadan an earning season, we would wait for Ramadan calendar orders, but Internet and social media have impacted our business. Some designers and pressmen at this Quetta market hardly received a few [orders] this year, but the majority are sitting idle.”

Furqan Ahmed, a 42-year-old resident of Quetta, said he didn’t see people distributing the traditional calendars ahead of Ramadan this year. 

“We used to get Ramadan calendars from business communities and volunteers of religious seminaries standing outside mosques and at various spots of Quetta city, distributing Ramadan calendars,” he said as he stood on a busy street in the provincial capital of Balochistan. 

Inam ul Haque, a graphic designer, is seen designing a Ramadan calendar in Quetta, Pakistan, on February 27, 2025. (AN Photo)

“This year, I haven’t seen this practice because now we can receive Ramadan calendars on our smartphones and can check the fasting schedule on the Internet.”

Inam-ul-Haque, another graphic designer, 37, who didn’t receive any orders this Ramadan, said the culture of sharing Eid greeting cards had also declined in recent years:

“We used to send Eid greetings to our family and friends by posting Eid cards, but social media has replaced that culture.”
 


Four dead, nine injured as rains lash northwestern Pakistan

Updated 20 min 26 sec ago
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Four dead, nine injured as rains lash northwestern Pakistan

  • Rain-related accidents occurred in Haripur, Battagram, Bajaur, Upper and Lower Kohistan, Dir, Hangu, Khyber and Torghar districts
  • Pakistan’s disaster management authority last week warned a strong westerly wave would trigger rains in country’s upper parts 

PESHAWAR: Intermittent rains over the past five days have killed four people and injured nine across Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a report by the provincial disaster management authority said on Monday.

Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) last week warned that a strong westerly wave would trigger rains, thunderstorms and snowfall in the upper parts of the country from Feb. 24 to Mar. 1.

“Since Feb. 26, four people have died and nine people have been injured in accidents due to rains in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” a report by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said. 

The report said that the four dead include three men and one woman, while the injured include four children, three women and two men. It said 14 houses in total were affected due to the rains out of which 10 were partially damaged and three were completely damaged. 

“The accidents due to rains occurred in the districts of Haripur, Battagram, Bajaur, Upper and Lower Kohistan, Dir, Hangu, Khyber and Torghar,” the report said. 

The PDMA said it has directed district administrations to provide immediate relief to families affected by the rains and ensure that the best medical facilities are provided to the injured.

“PDMA has directed all district administrations and concerned institutions to utilize all resources to open the highways closed due to rain and snowfall,” the report said. 

Parts of Pakistan last month received rains after a months-long drought severely impacted crops like wheat, a staple food, as well as vital cash crops like potatoes in several regions, according to the Pakistani climate change ministry.

Torrential rains during the monsoon season of 2022 triggered flash floods across the country, with scientists attributing it to climate change impacts. The floods killed over 1,700 people and inflicted damages worth $33 billion on Pakistan, as per official estimates. 


Afghan, Pakistani forces trade fire at border as key crossing remains closed

Updated 03 March 2025
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Afghan, Pakistani forces trade fire at border as key crossing remains closed

  • Torkham border has been shut for 11 days due to Pakistan disputing Afghanistan’s construction of new border post
  • Taliban security forces opened fire unprovoked in the early hours of Monday, Pakistan returned fire, says Pakistani official

PESHAWAR: Pakistani and Afghan forces traded fire overnight at a key northwestern border crossing that has been closed for more than a week over a dispute between the two neighbors, officials said Monday.

No casualties were reported on either side of the Torkham crossing, which has been shut for 11 days due to Pakistan disputing Afghanistan’s construction of a new border post there.

Both countries have in the past closed Torkham and the southwestern Chaman border crossing, most often over deadly shootings and cross-fire. The crossings are vital for trade and travel between Pakistan and landlocked Afghanistan.

A Pakistani official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said that Taliban security forces opened fire unprovoked in the early hours of Monday, targeting Pakistan’s border post with automatic weapons. Pakistani personnel returned fire, the official said.

There was no immediate comment on the exchange from the Taliban government in Kabul.

Thousands of trucks and vehicles are stranded on both sides of the Torkham crossing, leaving people stuck in harsh winter conditions.


Pakistan government charity launches ‘largest’ Ramadan relief campaign to provide 5 million iftar meals

Updated 03 March 2025
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Pakistan government charity launches ‘largest’ Ramadan relief campaign to provide 5 million iftar meals

  • Meals to be distributed at mosques, orphan centers, schools and women empowerment centers, says state media
  • Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched a Rs20 billion ($71.4 million) relief package last week for four million families

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM) will launch one of its largest relief campaigns in Ramadan through which it would provide over five million iftar meals across the country to the underprivileged, state-run media reported recently. 

The PBM is an autonomous body which undertakes charitable ventures aimed at alleviating poverty through various services and provides assistance to widows, orphans and other deserving individuals. 

Senator Shaheen Khalid Butt, the PBM’s managing director, told state broadcaster Radio Pakistan that the campaign will target “the most deserving and underprivileged segments of society.”

Volunteers arrange plates of iftar meals prepared for Muslims waiting to break their fast on the first day of the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan at Memon mosque in Karachi on March 2, 2025. (AFP)

“Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal is set to launch one of its largest relief campaigns during the holy month of Ramzan, aiming to distribute over five million iftar meal boxes across the country under the Prime Minister’s Special Initiative,” Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday. 

Butt said the initiative would provide ready-to-eat meals through the PBM’s existing district-level infrastructure spread countrywide. He said mosques, orphan centers, women empowerment centers, schools and other designated locations will be targeted for distribution of meals.

“He said thirty-three mobile trucks will also operate on different routes to reach the most remote areas,” Radio Pakistan stated.

Muslim devotees break their fast with an iftar meal on the first day of Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan in Karachi on March 2, 2025 (AFP)

On Saturday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif launched a Rs20 billion ($71.4 million) relief package a day before Ramadan 2025 began, saying it aimed to benefit four million families across the country. 

As per the package, the Pakistani government will provide Rs5,000 ($17.87) each to around four million families across the country to support them during the month of Ramadan, officials said. 

Sharif had said the amount would be distributed to people across all four Pakistani provinces, as well as Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir areas, through the digital wallet system. 

While consumer inflation in Pakistan declined to 2.4 percent in January compared to 24 percent in the same period last year, many Pakistanis say they are still feeling the pinch as the country navigates a tricky path to economic recovery from a prolonged macroeconomic crisis.