ISLAMABAD: One person died of Covid-19 in the capital on Saturday and 55 more were diagnosed with the disease.

Capital administration officials said the capital’s death toll has now reached 163. The deceased was a resident of Tarnol.

Of the new patients reported on Saturday, 12 are between the ages of 20 and 29, 11 are aged between 30 and 39, nine are aged between 40 and 49, there are five patients each from the zero to nine, 50 to 59 and 60 to 69 age groups, and four each from the 11 to 19 and 70 to 79 age groups.

Eight cases each were reported from Lohibher and G-10, four from Tarlai, three from Sohan, two each from G-7, Bhara Kahu, I-10, Khanna, G-13, F-10, F-5 and G-14, and one each from G-8, G-7, G-6, G-11, Rawat, Alipur, Chak Shahzad, G-15, F-5, Tarnol, Shah Allah Ditta, Pind Baghwal, H-12 and E-8. The addresses of two new patients are not known.

There were 2,351 Covid-19 tests carried out in Islamabad in the last 24 hours, officials said.

Islamabad has now reported 14,821 cases of Covid-19, including 12,253 recoveries. There are currently 2,405 active cases in the capital.

Rawalpindi

Another 22 people tested positive for Covid-19 in Rawalpindi on Saturday, and no deaths or recoveries were reported.

Rawalpindi district has now reported 6,490 cases of Covid-19, including 274 deaths and 5,737 recoveries. There are currently 240 patients being treated in Rawalpindi’s four government-run hospitals - the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology, Holy Family Hospital, Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH) and District Headquarters Hospital - as well as 239patients isolated in their homes.

Another 201 suspected patients have also been brought to Rawalpindi hospitals and their samples have been sent to the National Institute of Health and the BBH laboratory for testing, which will take three to four days.

Also on Saturday, the district administration sealed 21 shops and charged Rs54,000 in fines for violations of the weekend lockdown.

Teams supervised by assistant commissioners visited markets in Raja Bazaar, Saddar and Commercial Market as well as the main markets of Rawalpindi’s Murree, Taxila, Gujar Khan, Kahuta, Kotli Sattian and Kalar Syedan tehsils.

Eight vehicles were impounded and Rs8,000 in fines were charged by the Regional Transport Authority for violations of standard operating procedures (SOP) for public transport. Eight vehicle owners have also been issued warnings.

Commissioner retired Capt Mohammad Mehmood told Dawn that the number of Covid-19 patients has reduced in the four districts of Rawalpindi division - Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal and Jhelum - but would rise again if people do not take precautions.

He said fewer patients have been reported in filter clinics in the four districts and the number of home isolation cases has decreased as well. The government is also upgrading health facilities to accommodate more patients, he said, while 70pc of the beds in government-run hospitals are empty.

Mr Mehmood said there were 25 new Covid-19 patients reported in the division on Saturday - 22 in Rawalpindi, two in Attock and one in Jhelum.

“At present, 272 patients are admitted to hospitals and 421 patients are isolated in their houses in the four districts,” he said.

Attock

Two new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Attock on Saturday, bringing the total in the district to 560.

The district’s focal person on Covid-19, Dr Asif Arbab Niazi, said that the new patients were reported in Hazro and Attock city.

There are currently 128 active patients in the district, he said, of which 69 are from Attock city, 49 are from Hazro, five are from Fatehjang, four are from Jand, one is from Hassanabdal and there are no active cases in Pindigheb.

He said that 245 suspected patients are awaiting Covid-19 test results. There are five confirmed patients in hospital and 123 isolated in their homes.

In Taxila, a frontline health worker is among three new patients diagnosed with Covid-19 on Saturday. A medical officer at the Wah General Hospital has tested positive for Covid-19, health officials confirmed.

Deputy District Officer Health Dr Sara Qadeer said that two of the new patients are from urban parts of Wah and one is from rural Taxila.

Dr Qadeer said that of the 405 patients reported in Taxila tehsil, 17 are in hospital, 76 are under home isolation and 294 have recovered.

Gujar Khan

One person tested positive for Covid-19 in Jhelum district, bringing the total there to 446.

The patient has been isolated in his home by health authorities.

The district health department’s focal person Dr Mian Mazhar Hayat said that 446 people have been diagnosed with Covid-19 so far, of which more than 400 have recovered. No Covid-19 patients are currently under treatment in any civil hospital in all four tehsils of the district, he said.— Additional reporting by Amjad Iqbal & Hamid Asghar

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2020