New record set for highest number of COVID-19 cases

Islamabad : As many as 1,382 new patients have been tested positive for COVID-19 from Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district in the last 24 hours setting a new record for the highest number of cases reported in a single day from the region since the advent of coronavirus in Pakistan.

Earlier, the highest number of cases from the twin cities in a day was 1143, reported during the third wave of the outbreak on April 2, 2021. Also, it happened for the fourth time in the history of COVID-19 that over 1,000 patients have been confirmed positive from the twin cities in a single day. On April 3, last year the number of patients recorded was 1,008 while on April 11, 2021, as many as 1,041 patients were reported from the region.

According to District Health Officer ICT Dr. Muhammad Zaeem Zia, 1,131 individuals have tested positive from the federal capital against 7,360 tests conducted at a positivity rate of 15.37 per cent. This is the highest number of cases during the pandemic, among all the waves in a single day, he said.

The positivity rate of COVID-19 in the Rawalpindi district was recorded as 14.22 per cent in the last 24 hours which is also much higher showing the outbreak has gotten much more intense.

According to COVID-19 District Surveillance Officer Rawalpindi Dr. Waqar, as many as six educational institutions have been closed down for 10 days after reporting confirmed cases of the illness from their premises.

Five schools including GGHS, Dheri Hassanabad, GHS Khayaban-e-Sir Syed Sector 4/B, GHS Pimnd Nasrala, Government Islamia School Murree Road (Benazir Bhutto Road), and GHS Dhoke Hassu have been closed after reporting 26 cases of students. It is important that of 26 students who tested positive for COVID-19, three are below 12 years of age.

Meanwhile, Government Associate College for Women Satellite Town B Block has been closed down for 10 days after reporting of four staff members tested positive for coronavirus illness. Dr. Waqar said the contact sampling has been completed before closing down the facilities. Data collected by ‘The News’ on Thursday reveals that the virus has claimed another three lives from the region, all from Rawalpindi in the last 24 hours taking the death toll from the twin cities to 2,199 while confirmation of another 1,382 patients positive for COVID-19 has taken tally from the region to 151,582.

In the last 24 hours, the virus did not claim any life from ICT though 969 patients from the federal capital have already died of the illness. Confirmation of 1,131 new cases from ICT took the tally to 113,688. To date, a total of 108,253 patients have recovered from the illness in the federal capital while the number of active cases of the disease belonging to ICT has jumped to 4,466 on Thursday after the addition of 1062 active cases in the last 24 hours.

From Rawalpindi district, another three patients died of the disease in the last 24 hours taking the death toll to 1,230 while 251 more patients were tested positive for COVID-19 from the district taking the tally to 37,894. As many as 35,475 patients have recovered from the illness in the district while the number of active cases has been recorded as 1,189 on Thursday of which 28 were hospitalized and 1,161 were in home isolation.