6 deaths, 640 COVID-19 patients from twin cities

Rawalpindi : It is for the first time since the advent of coronavirus that over 180 patients have been tested positive from Rawalpindi district in a day as 182 confirmed patients were reported from the district in last 24 hours setting a new record for the number of cases from the twin cities as well while the virus claimed another six lives from Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district in last 24 hours.

On Saturday, as many as 640 new patients have been added to the dashboards of ICT and Rawalpindi and it is for the fourth time only that over 600 confirmed patients of the disease have been reported from the region in a day. Earlier over 600 patients were reported in a day from the region on June 7, June 14 and June 15.

In last 24 hours, a total of 182 new patients have been reported from Rawalpindi which is the highest number of patients ever reported in a day since the outbreak hit the region.

According to many health experts, reporting of 640 new cases in a day is hinting towards a situation that may become out of control in next few days if proper preventive measures are not taken well in time. Experts say that almost all offices, businesses, educational institutions and transport facilities are operating and all types of social and religious gatherings are intact and it may cause large spikes making situation much dreadful for the residents at least in the twin cities.

It is important that many health experts have repeatedly expressed to ‘The News’ that the increasing intensity of COVID-19 outbreak in the region needs urgent and exclusive decisions regarding lockdowns and closure of departments and educational institutions in the twin cities.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Saturday reveals that the virus claimed four more lives in the federal capital in last 24 hours taking death toll from Islamabad Capital Territory to 270 while two patients died of the disease in Rawalpindi district taking death toll from the district to 359.

In last 24 hours, another 458 patients have been tested positive for COVID-19 from ICT taking total number of confirmed patients from the federal capital to 26,177, of which 21,486 patients have so far recovered. On Saturday, there were 4421 active cases of coronavirus illness in ICT.

In Rawalpindi district, confirmation of 182 new patients has taken tally to 8,312 of which 7,057 have so far recovered. The number of active cases in the district is 899 of which 72 have been undergoing treatment at the healthcare facilities in the district while 827 are in home isolation, said Executive District Officer (Health) Dr. Sohail Ahmed Chaudhary while talking to ‘The News’.

He added that on Saturday, another 1728 persons were under home quarantine in the district.

APP adds: As many as 11 professors of Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) Islamabad have figured among the top two per cent researchers in a global list compiled by Professor John Ioannidis of Stanford University and his team.

According to the details, recently the Stanford University has compiled a list of top 2 per cent scientists working round the globe in which a number of Pakistani researchers from different universities have been included in this list for their best research work.

Talking to APP on Saturday, General Secretary Academic Staff Association QAU Professor Dr Bilal Abbasi whose name is also included in the list, said that it is excitement for the entire country that a number of Pakistani scientists working in different universities have been named in top two percent scientists across the globe. Sharing further details, he said following scientists from QAU had been named in top two per cent including Profs Bilal Haider Abbasi from Biotechnology, Zabta Khan Shinwari and Mushtaq Ahmad from Plant Sciences, Amir Ali Shah from Microbiology, Riffle Nasim Malik from Environment Sciences, Muhammad Rashid Khan from Biochemistry, Masood Khan from Maths, Afzal Shah and Aamer Saeed from Chemistry, Abdul Haq from Statistics.

In his message, Dr Bilal demanded of the government for allocating more budget for the top ranked university of Pakistan to resolve its issues and improving its global ranking.

Among others, three professors of University of the Punjab have also been ranked among Stanford University’s list of world’s top two percent researchers.

Three University of Punjab professors included Professor Dr. Muhammad Sharif, Dean, Faculty of Science (ranked in the field of Nuclear and Particle Physics), Professor Dr. Khalid Mahmood, Dean, Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences (ranked in the field of Information and Library Science), and Professor Dr. Muhammad Akram, Department of Mathematics (ranked in the field of Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing).

The list has 159,683 people from all scientific disciplines including 81 scientists from higher education institutions in Pakistan.