Rawalpindi : The coronavirus illness, COVID-19 spread is getting more and more intense in this region of the country at least for the last two to three weeks and the number of confirmed cases being reported from Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district is on a significant rise after reopening of educational institutions.
It is alarming that in last one week, as many as 350 new patients have been tested positive for COVID-19 from the twin cities and this number does not include students or staff members of educational institutions screened for the disease. In last 24 hours, 60 more patients have been reported from ICT and Rawalpindi district taking total number of patients so far recorded from the region to 22,499.
Higher educational institutions including colleges and universities along with schools for 9th and 10th classes have reopened on September 15 while the private and public schools have started operating middle classes, from 6th to 8th classes from Wednesday.
The number of active cases from both ICT and Rawalpindi is also on the rise as in last one week, another 100 active patients have been added to the dashboards. On September 16, there were 374 active cases in ICT that jumped to 437 on Wednesday while number of active cases in Rawalpindi moved to 163 from 113 in a week.
Data collected by ‘The News’ reveals that another 88 patients have been confirmed positive from Rawalpindi in last one week while 262 from ICT. The spread of COVID-19 is showing a trend witnessed by the population at the end of April to the beginning of May.
In the last three weeks of August, less than 500 patients were tested positive for the illness while in last one week, the region has recorded another 350 cases hinting towards a second spike in number of cases. Many experts say that if the number of patients continues to rise and the educational institutions remain operational, COVID-19 outbreak may get intense in next few days.
In last 24 hours, another 39 patients have been tested positive from ICT taking tally to 16,246 of which 180 have lost their lives while 15629 have recovered.
From Rawalpindi, another 21 patients have been tested positive for COVID-19 taking tally to 6255 of which 282 have died of the disease and 5808 have recovered. A total of eight confirmed patients have been undergoing treatment at the healthcare facility while 155 confirmed patients have been in home isolation, said Executive District Officer (Health) Rawalpindi Dr. Sohail Ahmed Chaudhary while talking to ‘The News’.
He added the number of suspects of the disease under quarantine at their homes in the district was 389 on Wednesday.