ISLAMABAD: Two more educational institutions have been sealed after staff and students tested positive for Covid-19.

The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has also been closed for two days after three employees were diagnosed with the disease.

Capital administration officials said that a government school and a private school were sealed in response to directives issued by the Islamabad deputy commissioner.

The Model College for Girls Korang Town was sealed after two people tested positive for Covid-19, while a private school in the Chak Shahzad area has also been sealed after three people tested positive.

Two more educational institutions sealed in Islamabad

The schools have been sealed with immediate effect and their premises cordoned off. The sub-divisional magistrate rural was directed to execute the order.

Two universities, 10 government schools and 15 private schools have been sealed so far after staff and students tested positive for Covid-19, officials said. There have been 66 positives out of 23,000 tests carried out in educational institutions.

FDE officials said the directorate is also closed for two days after three staffers tested positive. All employees other than directors and their staff have been asked to work from home. The FDE building and premises will be disinfected before it is opened again; the building was last disinfected on Saturday after a person tested positive for Covid-19.

Islamabad reported 98 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, while 4,594 tests were carried out in the city, officials from the administration said.

There were nine cases each reported from Media Town and Bhara Kahu, followed by seven from Bahria Town, six from D.H.A, five each from Pakistan Town and G-11, four each from I-8, E-11 and Chak Shahzad, three each from Soan Garden, Pims Colony, I-10, G-8, F-7 and Chattha Bakhtawar, two each from Taramri, Shahzad Town, Ghouri Town and G-10 and one each from Rawat, Nilore, Margalla Town, Korang, Khanna, Judicial Colony, H-8, H-13, G-9, G-7, G-6, F-11, F-10, CBR Town and Bilal Town.

The addresses of four patients are not known, they added.

Rawalpindi

A total of 23 people tested positive for Covid-19 in Rawalpindi on Wednesday and 31 patients recovered.

Rawalpindi district has reported 7,236 confirmed cases of the disease so far, with 300 deaths and 6,760 recoveries recorded in the main hospital for Covid-19 patients.

There are still 298 patients awaiting the results of their Covid-19 tests.

So far, 19 patients are admitted to the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology of which 12 are from within the district.

Another 157 patients are isolated in their homes while health authority teams have been deployed to check on them.

Local administrations have also quarantined 646 people.

So far, 8,669 people have tested positive for Covid-19 since March, including 7,236 people in Rawalpindi, 637 in Attock, 498 in Jhelum and 298 in Chakwal.

There have been 368 deaths – 300 in Rawalpindi, 39 in Chakwal, 20 in Attock and nine in Jhelum – and 8,108 recoveries – 6,760 in Rawalpindi, 610 in Attock, 485 in Jhelum and 253 in Chakwal.

“The district administration has been asked to implement the standard operating procedure in all educational institutions, government and private offices and public places, as the number of patients may increase in the coming days,” Mr Mehmood said.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2020