TAXILA: Three people died of Covid-19 in Attock and two in Taxila on Tuesday, taking the death toll in Attock to 12 and in Taxila to 14.

A man from Mansar village and another from Attock and a 36-year-old woman from Pindigheb were admitted to Pims Islamabad and Holy Family Hospital Rawalpindi where they died, according to district health officer surveillance and preventive Dr Asad Ismail.

District emergency officer Dr Ishfaq Mian said the three deceased were buried under the Covid-19 protocol.

Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Faheem said a woman from Lalarukh in Wah died of the virus at POF Hospital Wah while a man from Maqsoodabad died of the virus at a local military hospital.

He said both the victim were buried under the Covid-19 protocol in a local graveyard under the supervision of teams from the health department, police and local administration.

Moreover, 29 more people tested positive in Taxila after which the number of patients rose to to 250. Two officials of the tehsil municipal administration were among the new patients, health authorities added.

Following the detection of two positive cases in the public service department, officials of the local administration and health department sealed the TMA premises and carried out sampling of all other employees.

The city witnessed the highest ever tally of 250 positive patients which included 11 women. Deputy district officer health Dr Sara Qadeer confirmed the spike in the cases in Taxila. As many as 14 people, including four doctors, tested positive in Attock, taking the tally to 235 in the district.

The subdivisional police officer of Hassanabdal was among the positive patients. Besides, four health workers, including two female doctors, in the district also tested positive.

According to district focal person for Covid-19 Dr Asif Arbab Niazi, the number of positive cases in Attock rose to 235 on Tuesday which included 10 from Attock city, two from Hazro and as many from Fethjang.

Mr Niazi said the number of suspected cases also increased to 2605 while screening of 6186 people had been carried out so far.

He said the results 315 suspects were awaited. At present, 12 positive patients are under treatment at different hospitals. out of 235 positive patients, 118 are home isolated while 14 others are isolated at quarantine centres.

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2020