Pneumonia continues to wreak havc across Punjab with 18 more children losing their lives in the past 24 hours to the disease.

According to the health department, the children who died ranged from newborns to four-year-olds.

The deaths include four from Rawalpindi, four from Faisalabad, three from Lahore, two each from Bahawalpur and Gujranwala, and one each from Sadiqbad, Rajanpur and Sheikhupura.

The health department added that a total of 869 cases of pnuemonia were reported in the last 24 hours. A total of 177 cases were reported from Lahore alone.

Over 14,000 children have been diagnosed with pneumonia in the first month of the new year.

A total of the 258 children have lost their lives so far.