Reopening of educational institutions may cause havoc

Rawalpindi : As many as 465 new patients have been tested positive for coronavirus illness, COVID-19 in the last 24 hours from Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district while the virus has claimed another six lives from the twin cities that has taken death toll from the region to 1,826.

It is pertinent to note that the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreak is hitting population much harder in the twin cities as in the last three days, as many as 10 patients belonging to ICT and Rawalpindi have lost their lives due to the illness while 1,415 new patients have been tested positive in the last three days from the region making an average of around 471 patients per day.

Despite the situation worsening, educational institutions in both the public and private sectors are going to operate from the first week of August after summer vacation though many health experts believe that reopening of educational institutions from next week may cause havoc making the situation worst.

It is also alarming that the positivity rate of COVID-19 has already jumped to around nine per cent in the region as in the last 24 hours, it has been recorded as over 9.8 per cent in the federal capital and 8.36 per cent in the Rawalpindi district.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Friday reveals that the total number of patients so far reported from the twin cities has reached 113,703 while the number of active cases of COVID-19 from the twin cities has been recorded as 3,945 hinting towards a much alarming situation.

In the last 24 hours, the virus claimed two more lives from ICT taking the death toll from the federal capital to 799. The total number of patients so far tested positive from the federal capital reached 86,945 after confirmation of 343 cases in the last 24 hours. To date, a total of 83115 patients from ICT have recovered while the number of active cases of the disease has jumped to 3,031 on Friday after the addition of 218 active cases to the existing pool.

According to details, after four more deaths due to COVID-19 from Rawalpindi district in the last 24 hours, the death toll from the district has got to 1,027. As many as 122 more patients have been tested positive from Rawalpindi district in the last 24 hours taking the tally to 26,758 of which 24,817 patients have recovered.

Out of a total of 914 active cases of the disease from the district, as many as 81 patients were undergoing treatment at the healthcare facilities in town while 833 patients were in home isolation on Friday.