RAWALPINDI: Another person tested positive for coronavirus on Monday taking the tally to 54 in Rawalpindi.

Samples of 10 members of the patient’s family were taken for test and they were quarantined in their house at Akalgarh.

Meanwhile, 13 members of Tablighi Jamaat, who were staying in the basement of a mosque at Dhoke Mustakeem in Naseerabad, were shifted to the quarantine centre at Arid Agriculture University.

A a sanitary patrolling officer of the health department spotted a man buying a large number of naans from a shop and going to the mosque.

Later, the officer along with police raided the mosque and found 13 people gathered in the basement.

After screening of all the members of Jamaat they were shifted to the quarantine centre.

According to sources, law enforcement agencies, health department teams and intelligence have been searching for 145 members of Tableeghi Jamaat who had entered Rawalpindi division.

The sources said more than 35 groups of Tableeghi Jamaat who had been in Rawalpindi division needed medical tests as they had participated in a mass gathering.

In Akalgarh mohallah, a 37-year-old man, who had joined his family after returning from a Tableeghi congregation, was shifted to the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology after he tested positive for Covid-19.

Police have been deployed outside the street and a waring board inscribed with “Danger” and a coronavirus patient is residing here and entry of people is prohibited in the area has been pasted on the walls.

On the other hand, police remained on their toes to implement the lockdown and social distancing as some traders violated the standard operating procedure (SOP) and were found gathering outside shops.

City Police Officer (CPO) Mohammad Ahsan Younas said the police were trying their best to implement government directives regarding social distancing and also educating people to follow the SOP.

“Our top priority is to maintain social distancing which is being violated in some areas,” the CPO said.

“Police are distributing stickers and have drawn lines outside grocery shops for maintaining distance but in some areas people were violating it. As a result, the shops were told to pull their shutters down.”

He said besides educating people to follow government instructions, safety of police personnel deployed with medical teams treating the coronavirus patients was also important.

Commissioner Rawalpindi Mohammad Mehmood on Monday visited Sadiqabad, Dhoke Paracha, Tench Bhatta and Raja Bazaar and directed the concerned officials to discourage gatherings outside banks where people were violating the directives.

The commissioner said in a press release four high dependency units had been established in Rawalpindi division where 36 patients could be accommodated. Likewise, he said, 46 quarantine centres had been established where 5,194 coronavirus patients could be kept with all possible medical facilities.

In Rawalpindi district, 54 confirmed patients of coronavirus are under treatment while one patient is in Attock and 27 are in Jhelum.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2020