First patient tested positive for coronavirus in Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi : The first patient in the district has been tested positive for disease caused by 2019 novel coronavirus, COVID-19 here at Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) on Friday while four contacts of the patient have also been in isolation at the BBH.

The 24-year-old male patient who belongs to District Buner in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province reached Islamabad International Airport on Thursday from Dubai. During screening at the Islamabad airport, he was suspected as a patient of COVID-19 and sent to BBH. The hospital sent his sample to National Institute of Health and he was tested positive for the disease on Friday, said Executive District Officer (Health) Dr. Sohail Ahmed Chaudhary while talking to ‘The News’ on Friday.

He added that the patient was received by his contacts, three to four in number at the airport and after confirmation, his contacts have also been put in isolation at the BBH. The contacts of the patient are under continuous observation, he said.

It is important that to date not a single case of local transmission of COVID-19 has been reported from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. The first patient of COVID-19 reported in this region of the country on February 26 was a 61-year old male who reached Pakistan from Iran and managed at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in the federal capital.

The PIMS has so far received a total of four confirmed patients of the disease including a couple who reached Pakistan from the United States.

The EDO said the health department is focusing on establishing quarantine facilities in the region to avoid spread of COVID-19 if the number of cases increases. Coronavirus quarantine facilities for over 500 persons have already been made operational at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi and Fatima Jinnah Women University, he said.

He added that the establishment of quarantine facilities at University of Engineering and Technology Taxila and Women University in Satellite Town is in progress.