Coronavirus has claimed the lives of three media persons in Pakistan and infected 156 others, stated a report released by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ).

Zulfiqar Ali Mehto who heads the PFUJ’s Covid-19 rescue committee noted that out of the three dead journalists, one was from Multan and two others were from Sukkur.

As per reports, the camera crew and photojournalists are the most affected ones.

So far 69 journalists have returned home after recovering from the virus. The remaining lot is still in quarantine and are out of danger.

Lahore has reported the highest number of cases at 84, followed by Rawalpindi and Islamabad with 24, Quetta 17, Peshawar 12, Karachi nine, Sukkur six, Multan five and Gujranwala and Hyderabad two each.

Mr. Mehto said the PFUJ had collected data from its units spread across the country and Azad Kashmir.

Punjab government has announced an assistance of Rs100,000 for every victim from the Journalists Support Fund, the PFUJ has sent the data to the authorities concerned.

The PFUJ called upon the governments of Sindh, Khyber Pakht­unkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK to provide at least Rs100,000 to the journalists affected by coronavirus.