Pakistan: 18 children die of pneumonia in Punjab due to freezing cold

Islamabad [Pakistan], January 19 (ANI): At least 18 children lost their lives in Pakistan's Punjab province due to pneumonia amid intense cold weather, ARY News reported on Friday.
It reported quoting health department data, 1062 cases of pneaumonia were reported of which the majority were from Lahore.
In January alone, 780 cases were reported in Lahore in government hospitals, while 4900 pneumonia cases were reported in Punjab.
To save children from catching pneumonia, the government has decided to impose a ban on holding a morning assembly in schools until January 31.
Meanwhile, caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi has expressed grave concern over the rise of pneumonia cases among children in Punjab.
Additionally, in Afghanistan, the number of children suffering from pneumonia has grown and over 2300 children lost their lives due to the disease in the current year, reported TOLOnews.
According to Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, more than one million children have been suffering from this disease and have attended health facilities since the beginning of the year.
"The number of infected people that we have is almost 1.3 million, but unfortunately the number of deaths is more than the past year," said Sharafat Zaman Amarkhil, the spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health.
Cold weather, food insecurity, air pollution, and poverty are thought to be the variables that contribute to the spread of this disease.
Every year on November 12, World Pneumonia Day is observed. Afghanistan is one of the nations where pneumonia is still a major cause of death. Many patients and those who died as a result of this disease are children, TOLOnews reported. (ANI)