3 deaths, 379 more COVID-19 cases in a day

Islamabad : The second wave of coronavirus illness, COVID-19 outbreak is hitting the population much harder in Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district as in last 24 hours, the virus has claimed another three lives while as many as 379 more confirmed cases of the illness have been reported from the region taking tally to well over 30000.

In last three days, the virus claimed 13 lives in the twin cities and 1110 new cases have been reported from the region in last 72 hours making the region the worst hit by the second wave as compared to other parts of the country.

On Thursday, District Health Officer ICT Dr. Muhammad Zaeem Zia has issued directives to close down another nine educational institutions in the federal capital after reporting of positive cases from their premises.

Talking to ‘The News’, Dr. Zaeem said his office has advised immediate closure of nine educational institutions on Thursday including Class A-2 Westminster School in Sector H-8, Islamabad Model School I-V in Sector G-7/4, Scienta Vision in Sector G-10, Rehabilitation Center for Children in H-8/4, Islamabad Model College for Girls Golra, Islamabad Model College for Boys in Sector G-7/4, IMS I-V in Sector F-6/3, Islamabad Model School for Girls in Sector I-14/3 and ICG in Sector F-6/2.

He said the institutions have been sealed for a period till further intimation by his office. He added the teams of health department are carrying out strong surveillance activities and monitoring the situation closely. He said his office has also issued directives regarding reopening of six educational institutions in ICT on Thursday including Watim Medical College, Air University Departments, IMCB in F-10, Benchmark School Kahuta, Nafees Medical College and Al Kausar College for Women.

Data collected by ‘The News’ reveals that in last 24 hours, the virus claimed three more lives in the twin cities taking death toll from the region to 590. In last 24 hours, as many as 333 new patients were tested positive for the disease from ICT taking tally to 22,765 of which 19604 have recovered while 248 have died of the disease. The number of active cases of COVID-19 in the federal capital has jumped to 2913 on Thursday.

The virus claimed two lives in Rawalpindi district in last 24 hours taking death toll to 342 while 46 new patients have been tested positive for COVID-19 taking tally to 7457 of which 6649 have recovered while number of active cases in the district has got to 466.

As many as 41 patients are hospitalized in the district at Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital and Red Crescent Hospital while number of confirmed patients in home isolation is 425, said Executive District Officer (Health) Rawalpindi Dr. Sohail Ahmed Chaudhary while talking to ‘The News’.