Statistics hint COVID-19 outbreak gets out of control

Islamabad : The number of patients being tested positive for coronavirus illness, COVID-19 outbreak, and the positivity rate of the infection in Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi district hint that the fifth wave of the outbreak is getting out of control as a new record for the highest number of cases from the region reported in a day has set for the fourth time in the last six days.

In the last 24 hours, as many as 2,195 new patients have been tested positive from the twin cities, which is the highest number of cases ever reported in a day from the region since the advent of coronavirus in Pakistan. Earlier on January 20 this year, 1,382 cases were reported from the twin cities while on January 21, the number of cases reported from the region got to 1709 however, on January 23, the number of cases reported from the region in a day jumped to 1,932.

The number of COVID-19 patients registered from the twin cities in a day never crossed the figure of 1,150 before January 20 this year.

It is important that in the last six days, as many as 9,443 new patients have been reported from ICT and Rawalpindi district making an average of around 1,574 patients per day that is the highest average number of patients per day from the region in the history of COVID-19 in Pakistan. Earlier, the average number of patients per day from this region of the country has never crossed the figure of 820 in any week.

Many health experts believe that confirmation of around 18 patients positive out of every 100 tests being done in the region hints that the situation is getting out of control.

According to District Health Officer ICT Dr. Muhammad Zaeem Zia, as many as 1836 new patients have been tested positive from ICT in the last 24 hours at a positivity rate of 22.30 per cent. Both the number of cases and the positivity rate reported in the last 24 hours are the highest in the history of the COVID-19 outbreak in the federal capital, he said.

Data collected by ‘The News’ on Tuesday has revealed that confirmation of another 1836 patients positive from ICT in the last 24 hours has taken tally from the federal capital to 120,128. To date, as many as 976 patients from ICT have lost their lives due to COVID-19. The number of active cases of the disease from the federal capital has jumped to 10,050 after the addition of 1,618 active cases in the last 24 hours.

On the other hand, confirmation of 359 new cases from Rawalpindi district in the last 24 hours has taken the tally to 39,515 of which 1,233 have already died of the illness while 35,865 have recovered. The positivity rate of COVID-19 in the district was recorded as 13.50 per cent in the last 24 hours.

On Tuesday, there were 2,417 active cases of COVID-19 from Rawalpindi of which 32 confirmed patients were undergoing treatment at the healthcare facilities in town while 2,385 were in isolation at their homes.