Islamabad, March 10 (IANS): Pakistan has said that the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus (Covid-19) infections across the country have risen to 16, after nine more cases emerged in Karachi on Monday.

"Nine new cases of coronavirus have tested positive in Karachi. Of these, six patients came from Syria via Doha whereas the other three patients came from London via Dubai in the past week. The Health Department is in the process of tracking all the contacts down for further testing"

"This brings the total number of cases to 13 in Sindh out of which one was cured and discharged," Health Department spokesperson Meeran Yousuf said on late Monday night.

Karachi has been the worst affected city so far, with 13 of the total confirmed cases. The remaining 2 are in Gilgit-Baltistan and 1 has been reported from Islamabad, according to the News International.

Six of the newly diagnosed patients had returned to Pakistan from Syria via Doha, while the other 3 arrived from London via Dubai. The first 7 diagnosed cases had traveled to Pakistan from Iran.

Strict measures have been taken by the government, including extending border closure with Afghanistan for seven more days and installing screening machines at all major airports in the country, the health officials said.

Globally, the virus has killed more than 4,000 people and infected over 1,10,000.