ISLAMABAD: Seven people, including three employees of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), have tested positive for Covid-19 in the capital.

Parts of P.W.D. Colony, F-10 and Pims Colony have been disinfected and sealed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In addition, a couple dozen Pims employees who were in contact with the patients have been tested.

Pims Executive Director Dr Ansar Maxood said all three employees were working in non-medical departments “so it cannot be said that they contracted the disease from patients”. He said two work in the accounts department and one in the store.

Now that community spread of the coronavirus has begun, he added, it is not known where the staffers contracted the disease.

“However, we can say for sure that they did not contract the virus from patients who visited the hospital,” he said.

Parts of P.W.D. Colony, F-10 and Pims Colony sealed and disinfected; other hospital staffers who were in contact with patients quarantined and tested

Dr Maxood said that the accounts department and store have been disinfected and all the employees who were in contact with the patients have been tested and quarantined.

Dr Maxood said around 100 patients visit Pims every day, of which 40 to 45 are tested for Covid-19. “At present, we have 21 confirmed patients at the hospital and three of them are in critical condition,” he said.

A Pims employee who asked to remain anonymous said that one of the Pims staffers who has been diagnosed with Covid-19 and lives in the Pims Hospital Colony has been breaching quarantine standard operating procedures (SOP) despite the requests of fellow residents.

“We have asked the management of the hospital to shift him and his family to any quarantine centre outside the hospital,” he said.

According to an official in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration, police officials have been stationed outside patients’ houses to ensure they do not leave and no one else enters, since every patient cannot be admitted to hospital.

“A couple has been infected in I-10, due to which we have deputed police officials outside the house to ensure no one goes there. A written note has also been attached to the gates of houses so people avoid that area. Similarly, a part of the sixth floor of Al-Mustafa Tower in F-10 has been sealed,” he said.

Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat said that three members of a family tested positive in P.W.D. Colony. He said that there are other residents in the house who have tested negative, so the three patients have been isolated in one room.

“Similarly, the area in F-10 where Dr Naqi died has been disinfected and residents of that street have been directed to remain in their homes for three days as one more person has been confirmed there,” he said.

Mr Shafqaat said G-6/2 was also sealed after seven cases were reported from a house there on Saturday. He said there have been 171 cases of Covid-19 reported in Islamabad.

“On Sunday, we were busy with a special flight that arrived, as according to the SOPs passengers were quarantined and their samples were collected for testing,” he added.

Meanwhile residents of G-6 held a protest claiming that the person who was infected in their street used to provide food to his relative at a quarantine centre established at a hotel in Islamabad.

They demanded that the district administration ensure that people were not infected by those in quarantine in hotels.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2020