• Says 5,360 people on oxygen as of April 29
• Oxygen production increased to 798 tonnes
• Another 131 die, over 5,000 contract virus

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Friday said the number of critical care Covid-19 patients had increased this year but the situation was managed by bringing about improvement in the healthcare system, with focus on oxygen production and beds.

On the other hand, the country reported another 131 casualties and 5,112 new infections during the last 24 hours.

In a series of tweets, Asad Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), said the total number of critical care patients who were being provided oxygen had reached 5,360 on Thursday.

“This is 57 per cent more than the peak June 2020. Alhamdulillah have so far managed to cope with this huge increase because of proactively building capacity of the entire system from oxygen production to beds,” the minister said in his tweet.

He went on to say that the total oxygen production operational capacity in Pakistan last year was 487 tonnes per day, which had risen to 798 tonnes.

The actual production had increased from 465 tonnes last June to 725 tonnes, he said, adding that, “we also imported 19,200 oxygen cylinders last year to ensure distribution.”

He said due to the steps taken by the federal and provincial governments, tight oxygen supply situation witnessed last June was not being seen again, despite an increase of more than 2,000 critical patients requiring oxygen compared to the previous peak in June.

The minister said this proactive decision-making had helped the country avoid a situation being seen in other countries.

“Bedrock of this proactive decision-making has been a data-based forward-looking analytical approach, nationally coordinated effort with a whole of the nation approach and hard work of dedicated teams who have continued to steer the effort through this difficult challenge,” Mr Umar said.

In another tweet, the minister said: “The challenge is not over and Infact is continuing to increase. The need for precautions and following sop’s is vital at this point in time. Next few weeks are critical. No system can cope if we allow the disease to spread rapidly. May Allah be with us and protect us.”

According to the latest NCOC statistics shared on Friday, 5,112 persons were found infected in a single day from among 49,099 who were tested for the virus in this period.

With the latest figure, the Covid-19 tally has jumped to 820,823, with the positivity ratio recorded at 10.41pc.

Similarly, the death toll has climbed to 17,811 after 131 more people succumbed to the virus.

Meanwhile, 3,272 patients recovered from coronavirus in a single day, taking the number of total recoveries to 711,465.

According to the NCOC, the number of active patients stood at 91,547 as of April 30.

During the last 24 hours, Punjab saw 2,296 people testing positive and 83 falling victim to the virus. The provincial tally of cases has now risen to 301,114 while the number of casualties has increased to 8,410.

In Balochistan, 160 people contracted the novel coronavirus during the past 24 hours, taking the overall provincial figure to 22,278.

According to officials, one more death was reported in the province which pushed the number of fatalities to 234. As many as 20,592 patients have recovered in Balochistan so far.

Azad Kashmir, meanwhile, recorded 126 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths. The caseload of the region has reached 17,057 with the death toll recorded at 475.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2021