ISLAMABAD: While 798 more people were found infected with Covid-19 in the capital on Sunday with an 11.04pc positivity ratio, the district administration has been anticipating a decrease in the positive cases during the current week.

As many as 251 people were diagnosed with the disease in Rawalpindi whereas no casualties were reported during the last 24 hours in both the cities.

According to a graph available with Dawn, positivity dropped to 7.7pc on April 9 but started rising again. The number of cases was 564 on April 7. However, the weekly positivity ratio considered to be more authentic has dropped a little; from March 29 to April 4, around 5,317 cases were reported with a positivity rate of 11.2pc but last week, between April 5 and 10, around 4,789 cases were reported with a positivity ratio of 9.2pc.

In the first week of February, the positivity ratio stood at 1.5pc and gradually increased.

District Health Officer Islamabad Dr Zaeem Zia said after closure of schools the number of cases sustained but did not decrease.

“We have been hoping that the cases will decrease in the current week and then we will be in a position to say whether there is a downward trend or not,” he added.

Moreover, as per the directions of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), directing the closure of inter-provincial transportation on Saturdays and Sundays, the secretary Islamabad Transport Authority (ITA) and the assistant commissioner Saddar along with traffic squad, local police and motorway police took action against operators of public transport on I.J.P. and other roads. As many as 34 vehicles were impounded and fines of Rs168,000 were imposed on them.

Rawalpindi

As many as 74 out of the total new patients were from cantonment and 76 from Potohar Town and 54 from Rawal Town.

Nine patients were from Gujar Khan, 15 from Taxila, four from Murree, nine from Kallar Syedan, two from Kotli Sattian and one from Kahuta whereas four patients arrived from Islamabad and one each from Attock, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Lahore.

In Rawalpindi district, there are currently 2,487 active patients. As many as 1,198 patients are in hospitals including 68 who arrived from other districts and 2,284 patients are home isolated. As many as 642 patients are waiting for the results of their Covid-19 serology.

Around 28 patients are admitted in Holy Family Hospital, 27 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital (BBH), 133 in Rawalpindi Institute of Urology (RIU) and 25 in Fauji Foundation Hospital (FFH).

As many as 29 patients are on ventilators in Rawalpindi, 105 are on oxygen support and 69 are stable.

Attock

Four people in Attock were diagnosed with Covid-19 on Sunday. District Health Authority Chief Executive Dr Jawad Ellahi said two of the new cases belonged to Attock while one each to Hazro and Fatehjang.

He said the number of active patients in the district has surged to 214 out of which 319 are home isolated. As many as 17 suspected Covid-19 patients were also admitted in District Headquarters (DHQ) hospital out of whom 15 are in critical condition.

Responding to a question, he said the number of suspected cases in the district – reported since the beginning of the pandemic - is 29,481 while screening of 32,733 persons has been carried out so far.

He said test results of 639 suspected patients of the area are still awaited whereas 27,140 people tested negative for the disease across the district whereas 1,345 patients have recovered.

Furthermore, sources said the number of active patients in Taxila rose to 221 out of whom 212 are home isolated whereas nine are admitted in hospitals.

So far 1,059 patients have recovered from this virus in the area and 43 passed away after contracting it. strong text— Additional reporting by Amjad Iqbal

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2021