4 deaths, another 158 test positive for COVID-19

Rawalpindi : The number of patients tested positive for coronavirus illness, COVID-19 and deaths caused by the virus from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi has been on a continuous rise as in last 24 hours, the virus has claimed four lives while another 158 patients have been tested positive for the disease.

The severity of the outbreak in the region can be gauged from the fact that in last 24 hours, every fifth patient tested positive for the disease from Pakistan is a resident of twin cities as a total of 736 patients have been confirmed positive for COVID-19 from the country on Friday. It is important that the same equation is being followed for last couple of weeks.

It is also worth mentioning here that data of the patients so far reported since the beginning of the outbreak show that almost every 13th patient registered in the country belongs to the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi while if taken Islamabad Capital Territory alone, every 18th confirmed patient of COVID-19 from the country is a resident of the federal capital. However, till June, every 20th patient of the disease reported from the country was from ICT.

Similarly, almost every 14th death so far caused by coronavirus illness in Pakistan has been reported from the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi as of a total of 6,715 deaths so far reported from the country, 513 are from this region though the mortality rate in Islamabad is lesser as compared to other districts of the country. Of 513 deaths so far reported from the region, 205 are from ICT and 308 from Rawalpindi.

Many experts believe that a second wave of COVID-19 outbreak is hitting population in the region with significant severity though majority of population in the region has not been giving due attention to the precautionary measures to avoid COVID-19 nor they are following standard operating procedures.

According to District Health Officer ICT Dr. Muhammad Zaeem Zia, the greater number of patients being tested positive from ICT is because of greater number of tests conducted in the federal capital. The mortality rate of the illness is much lower in ICT as compared to other parts of the country and it is because of strong surveillance and early diagnosis of patients, he said while talking to ‘The News’.

COVID-19 claimed four lives in the federal capital in last 24 hours that has taken death toll from ICT to 205 while 140 new patients have been tested positive for COVID-19 in last 24 hours from ICT taking total number of confirmed patients from the federal capital to 18,578. As many as 17050 patients have so far recovered while number of active cases of the disease in ICT is 1,323, he said.

As many as 18 new patients have been tested positive from Rawalpindi district in last 24 hours taking tally to 6691 of which 6,207 have recovered. On Friday, a total of 16 confirmed patients of COVID-19 were undergoing treatment at the healthcare facility in the district while as many as 160 confirmed patients of the disease were in isolation at their homes, said Executive District Officer (Health) Rawalpindi Dr. Sohail Ahmed Chaudhary while talking to ‘The News’.