PESHAWAR: Ninety per cent of the Covid-19 patients in the country have contracted the virus from local sources, according to a report.

The report said that seven per cent of the patients contracted the infection from the people, who arrived from abroad, and three per cent from the pilgrims coming from Iran.

The report, prepared by National Emergency Operations Centre under the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, said that the prevalence of infection in 98 per cent of patients in Islamabad was due to local transmission while 95 per cent patients in Balochistan, 93 per cent in Sindh, 88 per cent in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 87 per cent in Punjab, 86 per cent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 68 per cent in Gilgit-Baltistan contracted the virus from local sources.

It said that in early March the local transmission rate was 48 per cent but lately the virus spread from the locally infected people to the population.

Report says Tableeghi Jamaat members account for seven per cent of Covid-19 transmission

It said that members of Tableeghi Jamaat accounted for seven per cent of virus transmission in the country, 13 per cent in Punjab, five per cent each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan and one per cent in Islamabad.

The report said that the country had enough ventilators for Covid-19 patients.

The report said that 2,356 ventilators were available in the public sector hospitals of the country and 702 were dedicated for Covid-19 patients. However, only 112 were under the use of Covid-19 patients while 368 were being used by non-Covid-19 patients and 1876 were unoccupied and therefore utilisation rate was mere 16 per cent, it added.

It said that the number of ventilators in Punjab was 1321, in Sindh 501, in Islamabad 233, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 192, in Balochistan 61, in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) 39 and in Gilgit-Baltistan it was nine. Overall use of ventilator is 16 per cent, according to the report.

It said that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 48 per cent ventilators were under use, in Punjab 37 per cent, in Sindh 28 per cent and in Islamabad 11 per cent while utilisation of ventilators was zero in Balochistan, GB and AJK because no patient was in critical condition there.

It also showed that 1,069 ventilators remained empty in Punjab, 416 in Sindh, 223 in Islamabad, 122 in KP, 61 in Balochistan, 39 in AJK and nine in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The report said that 1,247 health workers were infected with the coronavirus across the country. The infected healthcare providers included 643 doctors, 394 paramedics and support staff and 210 nurses. A total of 12 health professionals have died of the pandemic, which they contracted during the course of duties with Covid-19 patients.

The report said that there were 735 health facilities countrywide where 21,085 beds were dedicated for Covid-19 patients. Currently, 9431 patients inflicted with coronavirus were admitted of whom 9118 were clinically stable, 204 were in critical condition and only 109 were on ventilators for mechanical breathing, it added.

The province of Punjab has 7,753 beds for Covid-19 patients in different cities; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 5,598 beds; Sindh 4,688; Balochistan 2,136; Islamabad 430; AJK 329 and Gilgit-Baltistan has 151 beds for the affected people.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has recorded highest number of deaths, also has more critical patients presently being treated in intensive care units at different hospitals of the province. The province has 41 seriously-ill Covid-19 patients followed by Punjab with 34 patients, Sindh with 31 and Islamabad with three patients.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2020