2 COVID-19 deaths, 60 new cases reported

Rawalpindi : Another two deaths, one each from Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district have been reported due to coronavirus illness, COVID-19 in the last 24 hours while 60 new patients have been tested positive for the illness from the region.

To date, the virus has claimed a total of 2124 lives from ICT and Rawalpindi district while as many as 142,247 patients have so far been reported positive for COVID-19 from the region. The positivity rate of COVID-19 in the Rawalpindi district, however, has dropped down to 1.0 per cent in the last 24 hours.

The number of patients being reported positive for the infection per day from the region has been on the decline for the last one month but still, the situation cannot be termed as completely under control as in the last two weeks, 1,092 patients have been registered from the region at an average of 78 cases per day.

Many health experts believe that ignoring SOPs that is the practice may lead to another, the fifth wave of the outbreak as had happened earlier. It is important that in August 2020, a total of 761 new cases were reported from the twin cities at an average of fewer than 25 patients per day but in the next two months, the population in the region faced another severe wave of COVID-19 outbreak.

The concerned government authorities have been relaxing curbs in the wake of a decline in the number of cases in Pakistan though experts say that the number of patients being tested positive for the illness from the region is still high and the decision of authorities may prove to be unwise.

Data collected by ‘The News’ reveals that out of a total of 2,124 deaths so far caused by the virus in the region, 1,187 have been reported from Rawalpindi district while 937 patients have died of COVID-19 from ICT.