RAWALPINDI: Eight localities that have been deemed hotspots for the coronavirus will be placed under lockdown today (Tuesday).

These localities are Narankari Bazaar, Bara Market, Khayaban-i-Sir Syed, Gulzar-i-Quaid, Dhoke Ali Akbar, Kotha Kalan, Morgah and Takhtpari.

Markazi Anjuman Tajran Rawalpindi President Malik Shahid Ghafoor Paracha told Dawn on Monday that although the closure of their businesses has caused financial difficulties for traders, they have to cooperate with government instructions.

“I think we should take precautionary measures in markets, as a large number of Covid-19 patients have been detected in residential areas,” he said.

Mr Paracha’s statement comes a day after the head of the Narankari Bazaar Traders Association criticised the district administration’s decision to seal the area, arguing that there had been no Covid-19 cases reported in the market in the last three months and that shopkeepers were not given advance warning of the decision to lockdown the area.

Some traders in Narankari Bazaar and Bara Market have argued that markets all over the city should be closed instead of just the two main markets. However, Mr Paracha said that traders should cooperate with the government even though they are finding it difficult to pay rent and staff salaries or even meet their household expenses.

Also on Monday, 29 more people were diagnosed with Covid-19 in the garrison city, while 59 recoveries were reported. This brings the total number of reported cases in Rawalpindi district to 5,683, with 243 deaths and 3,014 recoveries. There were no deaths reported on Monday.

Another 78 patients have been admitted to various hospitals in Rawalpindi and their samples have been sent to the National Institute of Health, Holy Family Hospital and Benazir Bhutto Hospital laboratories for testing.

The district administration had sent a recommendation to the Punjab Home Department seeking to lockdown eight more localities from June 30 to July 10 after a surge in Covid-19 cases reported from these areas.

In addition, Rawalpindi Drug Control Potohar Town and Rawal Town carried out joint inspections of various pharmacies and registered cases against them for selling medicines used to treat Covid-19 without doctors prescriptions and sale and purchase records.

Attock, Taxila witness ‘decline’ in coronavirus cases

The cities of Taxila and Attock have reported a daily decline in the number of Covid-19 cases in the last few days, according to statistics released by the health department.

A study of the data from the respective departments revealed that there was a consecutive decline in positive cases ratio after a rise in positive cases for three weeks.

“Four Covid-19 positive cases were reported in the district on Monday, five on Sunday, three on Saturday, 22 on Friday, five on Thursday and only two on Wednesday,” Attock district’s focal person on Covid-19 Dr Asif Arbab Niazi said.

He said that on Monday, the total number of cases reached 426, with 213 recoveries.

Dr Niazi said that the results of 307 suspected patients are awaited and 18 confirmed patients are being treated at various hospitals while 149 are under home isolation.

According to Dr Asad Ismail, the district health officer preventive services, an overall decline was witnessed in the number of positive cases in the last few days in the district. He said that this was a positive development as the number of patients from hotspots, especially Attock city and Hazro, declined.

Deputy District Officer Health Dr Sara Qadeer has also said that there has been a decline in the number of new Covid-19 cases reported in Taxila tehsil.

She said that no one tested positive for the disease on Monday. Before that, one person tested positive on Sunday and three on Saturday.

She said that the total number of Covid-19 patients in Taxila is 350, of which 224 are under home isolation and 18 are admitted to various hospitals. In addition, 90 people have recovered so far.

An epidemiologistspeaking to Dawn described the outcome as a real decline in Covid-19 cases. He added that the decline in the number of cases needs to be studied more closely for a few more days, which will enable experts to declare definite results of the outcome of social intervention to prevent the spread of the coronavirus,

District Health Authority CEO Dr Sohail Ijaz said that on the recommendation of the Covid-19 Technical Working Group, the government has relaxed certain conditions for Covid-19 patients and under new standard operating procedures (SOP), has lifted the requirement for two PCR tests before discharging patients. He added that the SOPs for the burial of deceased patients have also been changed.— Additional reporting by Amjad Iqbal

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2020