Another 7 tested positive for COVID-19 taking tally to 20 in twin cities, 2 discharged

Rawalpindi:As many as seven patients have been confirmed positive for disease caused by 2019 novel coronavirus, COVID-19 in last 24 hours here at the hospitals in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi taking total number of confirmed patients so far reported in the region to 20.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Monday reveals that three patients have been tested positive for COVID-19 in Rawalpindi while four in the federal capital. A total of five patients so far confirmed positive in hospitals in Rawalpindi have been undergoing treatment while of the 15 patients tested positive at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, two have been discharged after treatment.

The most alarming fact is that of the five patients tested positive at Benazir Bhutto Hospital in town, one patient is a case of local transmission belonging to Rawalpindi city area.

To date, a total of five patients have been tested positive for COVID-19 in the district and they are undergoing treatment at BBH and Corona Management Centre at Rawalpindi Institute of Urology, said Executive District Officer (Health) Dr. Sohail Ahmed Chaudhary while talking to ‘The News’ on Monday.

It is important that in this region of the Punjab province, BBH has been designated as the specialized healthcare facility by the Punjab health department to deal with 2019 novel Coronavirus cases including suspects and confirmed ones while CMC at RIU has been established to manage COVID-19 cases.

In the federal capital, PIMS is the only healthcare facility dealing with COVID-19 cases at the moment though it has established only a 10-bed isolation unit for the purpose.

Dr. Sohail informed ‘The News’ that as many as four quarantine facilities are being established in Rawalpindi with a capacity of keeping nearly 500 persons in quarantine according to international standards meaning one room for one person.

Two of the four quarantine facilities, one at Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi and the other at Fatima Jinnah Women University have already been made operational while arrangements are being made to establish two other facilities one at Rawalpindi Women University in Satellite Town and the other at Gordon College.

He added that coronavirus quarantine facility at University of Engineering and Technology in Taxila has also been made operational along with quarantine facilities in Tehsil Gujar Khan and Tehsil Murree.

It is important that a number of residents in town have been expressing concern over establishment of quarantine facilities in city areas which are thickly populated. People are of the view that it would pose serious threat of COVID-19 spread among healthy population.

When asked why the government has planned the four coronavirus quarantine facilities in the city area of the district, Dr. Sohail said the hospitals are already overburdened and are dealing with thousands of routine patients. In case of surge in number of COVID-19 cases, we may convert the quarantine facilities established in the city areas into isolation units for management of confirmed cases of the disease, he explained.