COVID-19 claims nine more lives from twin cities, another 396 test positive

Islamabad : In the last 24 hours, as many as nine more patients suffering from coronavirus illness, COVID-19 from Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district died of the illness and another 396 patients were reported from the twin cities proving that the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreak has been much intense in terms of both mortality and morbidity.

It is alarming that 25 patients have died of COVID-19 from the twin cities in the last 72 hours. The positivity rate of COVID-19 has been much higher in Rawalpindi district though it has dropped down to some extent in the federal capital in the last one week. In ICT, the weekly positivity has been recorded as 7.57 per cent from August 16 to 21 with reporting of 1,926 cases in the last six days.

According to District Health Officer ICT Dr. Muhammad Zaeem Zia, the weekly positivity rate has dropped down to 7.57 per cent from the previous week’s positivity of 9.38 per cent. It was over 10 per cent two weeks back, from August 2 to August 8, he said.

It is important that the weekly positivity rate of COVID-19 in the fourth week of June this year had dropped down to 0.9 per cent in the federal capital and below one per cent in Rawalpindi district. The positivity ratio in Rawalpindi has been recorded as 10.47 per cent in the last 24 hours.

In-charge District COVID-19 Cell Rawalpindi Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Jawad Zahid informed ‘The News’ on Saturday that a total of 1,919 samples were tested for COVID-19 in the district in the last 24 hours of which 201 were reported positive for the infection at a positivity rate of 10.47 per cent.

Data collected by ‘The News’ has revealed that the total number of patients so far reported positive for COVID-19 from the twin cities has reached 126,119 of which 1,925 patients have died of the illness so far.

In the last 24 hours, the virus has claimed six more lives from the federal capital taking the death toll to 848 while as many as 218 new patients have been reported from ICT taking the tally to 95,709 of which 89,475 patients have recovered. The number of active cases from ICT was recorded as 5,386 on Saturday.

After another three COVID-19 deaths from Rawalpindi district in the last 24 hours, the death toll became 1,077 while 178 new patients belonging to the district were tested positive in the last 24 hours taking the tally to 30410 of which 27,473 patients had recovered. The number of active cases from the district was recorded as 1,860 on Saturday.

According to the health department, a total of 119 confirmed patients from the district were undergoing treatment at the healthcare facilities while 1,741 patients were in home isolation on Saturday.