Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Minister of Health and Finance Taimur Jhagra declared on Thursday that the province will release 121 pilgrims who have returned from the Pakistan-Iranian border at Taftan after testing negative for the coronavirus.

The minister said in a tweet from his official Twitter account that these pilgrims will be released after they’ve completed quarantine period and tested negative.

“As we battle the virus, there will be many low moments, but we must celebrate the successes along the way, and this is as big as they come,” Jhagra tweeted.

Tomorrow KP will release 121 Taftan returned #CoronavirusOutbreak suspects after completing quarantine / negative test in DIK & Peshawar.
As we battle the virus, there will be many low moments, but we must celebrate the successes along the way, and this is as big as they come. pic.twitter.com/GyhOGtKMT7

— Taimur Khan Jhagra (@Jhagra) April 2, 2020

The minister said in another tweet that most of those pilgrims were from Punjab, Sindh and Islamabad. Despite this, he said, the KP government behaved in the interest of the people and did not abandon them.

“Because once here transporting them back would have exposed many other people across Pakistan to risk,” he added.

2. We kept these people from Islamabad, Pindi, Karachi, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Jhang & Mandi Bahauddin because it was the right thing to do, despite our limited space & facilities. Because once here transporting them back would have exposed many other people across Pakistan to risk. pic.twitter.com/lzAFFJa7hi

— Taimur Khan Jhagra (@Jhagra) April 2, 2020