ISLAMABAD: Three people lost their lives to Covid-19 in the twin cities during the last 24 hours while 102 more were infected as the capital’s district health department has finalised arrangements to administer vaccines to frontline healthcare workers.
Islamabad saw 84 cases and two deaths with the positivity ratio recorded at 1.1pc. As many as 7,200 samples were collected on Saturday.
District Health Officer Dr Zaeem Zia, while talking to Dawn, said the trend of weekly positivity rate during the virus’s second wave in Islamabad had dropped from 6.83pc to 1.75pc.
“We have been expecting further decline in cases but residents of the federal capital should understand that the disease is not over yet and they should strictly follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs),” he said.
Responding to a question, Dr Zia said all arrangements had been made to vaccinate 15,000 healthcare workers in the capital by the end of this month. It is worth mentioning that 400,000 healthcare workers have been registered across the country and will be vaccinated first.
“We have been waiting for the vaccine and as soon it is received, we will start the vaccination of already registered healthcare workers,” he said.
On the other hand, one person died and another 18 contracted the virus in Rawalpindi district.
Munir Ahmed, 69, a resident of Kallar Syedan, was brought to Kulsoom International Hospital on Jan 23 where he died on Sunday morning.
As many as 13 new patients arrived in hospitals including one from the cantonment areas, nine from Potohar Town and three from Rawal Town. Four patients are from other tehsils of Rawalpindi - one each from Gujar Khan, Kallar Syedan, Murree and Taxila. One patient is from Islamabad.
As many as 380 active patients are in the district out of whom 69 are under treatment in hospitals. Around 25 patients were brought from other districts and 311 patients are home isolated. As many as 472 people are waiting for their Covid-19 serology results.
According to the breakdown, 15 patients are admitted to Benazir Bhutto Hospital, 13 in Fauji Foundation Hospital, eight in Holy Family Hospital, four in Red Crescent Hospital, three in Hearts International Hospital and 26 in Rawalpindi Institute of Urology.
According to Punjab Control room figures, 12 patients are in critical condition and on ventilators in Rawalpindi, 33 required oxygen support and 24 were stable.
Committee to monitor SOPs in schools
On the directives of Punjab government, Rawalpindi District Education Authority has formed a committee to monitor standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Covid-19 in schools.
The committee will include district education officer (DEO), deputy DEO and assistant education officer; members will visit all high schools in the district and check whether SOPs are being implemented or not.
The government has asked high school administrations to check the temperature of ninth and 10th grade students. Students and teachers have also been advised to wear face masks and wash their hands with soap frequently and observe adequate social distancing in classrooms.
Attock
A surge in Covid-19 cases was witnessed in the district on Sunday as eight people tested positive, taking the tally of active patients to 72.
District Health Authority Chief Executive Dr Jawad Elahi said among these eight new cases, five belonged to Attock city while three others were from Fatehjang. Seven suspected virus patients are under treatment in District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital out of whom three were critical and four stable.
The number of suspected cases in the district is 23,729 while screening of 26,981 people has been carried out so far. Test results of 220 suspected patients are awaited while 22,232 people tested negative across the district. So far, 1,079 patients have recovered from the virus across the district, he added.— Additional reporting by Amjad Iqbal
Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2021
