Situation getting out of control, 1,709 cases, 2 deaths from twin cities

Islamabad : A continuous and sharp increase in the intensity of the fifth wave of coronavirus illness, COVID-19 outbreak hints that there is almost no control on the spread of the virus particularly in Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district from where the positivity rates of the infection have been recorded as 18.91 per cent and 16.03 per cent respectively.

The number of patients who tested positive from ICT set a new record for the highest number of cases reported in a day since the advent of COVID-19 in Pakistan with 1,359 cases registered on Friday and almost the same is the case in Rawalpindi district from where another 350 patients have been reported in the last 24 hours.

District Health Officer ICT Dr. Muhammad Zaeem Zia expressed to ‘The News’ on Friday that 1,359 individuals tested positive for COVID-19 from the federal capital in the last 24 hours which is the highest number of patients ever diagnosed from ICT in a day.

The positivity was 18.91 per cent and it is time to sensitise the public on SOPs. Media should play its role and inform people that everyone must opt for vaccination and booster dose if eligible, he said.

He added that contact tracing is hardly possible with much a higher number of cases being reported from Islamabad so anybody developing signs and symptoms of the disease should quarantine and consult a physician in case of complications.

It is important that as many as 11 educational institutions have been sealed in ICT this week after reporting COVID-19 cases from their premises while six educational institutions have been closed down in Rawalpindi district.

Data collected by ‘The News’ reveals that another 1,709 patients have been tested positive in the last 24 hours from ICT and Rawalpindi district along with two deaths that have taken the total number of deaths so far reported from the twin cities to 2,201.

According to details, two more patients from the federal capital have died of the disease in the last 24 hours taking the death toll from ICT to 971 while the total number of patients so far tested positive from ICT has become 11,5047. On Friday, the number of active cases of COVID-19 from the federal capital jumped to 5,704 after the addition of 1,238 active cases in the last 24 hours.

From Rawalpindi, 1,230 patients have died of the illness out of a total of 38,244 patients so far reported from the district. The number of active cases from Rawalpindi was 1,503 on Friday was 75 three weeks back. Of 1,503 active patients, as many as 28 were undergoing treatment at the healthcare facilities and 1,475 were in home isolation on Friday.