‘Rapid buildup’ in patients as Covid infections spike in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Planning minister Asad Umar warned on Thursday of a “rapid build-up” of Covid patients in hospitals and critical care on Thursday as Pakistan recorded a sharp rise in single-day infections and fatalities which ministers fear could be the advent of a deadly fourth wave powered by the Delta variant.

National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data showed 2,545 new confirmed cases, an increase of 28 per cent over the previous day’s infections (1,980), and 47 fatalities — nearly double of the previous day’s 24 recorded deaths.

“Rapid build-up starting to take place in Covid patients' hospital inflow, as well as patients in critical care. This Indian variant has caused devastation in countries in the region. Please follow SOPs and get vaccinated as soon as possible. Do not risk your own and others’ lives,” tweeted Umar, who also leads the NCOC.

Dr Faisal Sultan, the special assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services, called on people to wear masks “even if you are vaccinated”, warning that “Covid numbers continue to rise”.

He also shared that test positivity ratio of the country had breached the 5 per cent mark. According to Dr Sultan, it was now 5.2 per cent and in urban centres like Karachi, the ratios were an alarming 19 per cent. He also revealed the positivity ratios of Peshawar, 9.4 per cent, Islamabad 6.2 per cent and Lahore 3.8 per cent. He said over 580,000 administered of the vaccine were administered on Wednesday.

The situation in Karachi was particularly worrying, with Delta variant infections now discovered in 65 more people in the metropolis, Geo News reported, quoting Karachi University experts at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences.

In a tweet a day earlier, Umar shared a news story from Bloomberg, about how a Covid-driven hunger crisis forcing middle class Indians to line up for rations, with the accompanying text: “This is the devastation Covid can cause if you don’t take the right decisions at the right time. It shows the crippling impact the severe Indian lockdown had, and continues to have, on the hundreds of millions of the most vulnerable.”

The number of confirmed positive cases of coronavirus in the country now stood at 981,392, while the deaths were 22,689.