ISLAMABAD: Over 50 per cent residents of the federal capital have been partially or fully vaccinated with a senior health official saying the situation of Covid-19 is not as bad as was feared.

On Sunday, 168 people were found infected with the virus while the positivity rate was recorded at 8.2pc in Islamabad. One person died and 103 more tested positive in Rawalpindi district.

In Islamabad, taking notice of the arguments among citizens and vaccination staff over brand of vaccine administered at the time of the second dose, the health authorities have suggested people to take a picture of the verified slip before going for vaccination.

District Health Officer Dr Zaeem Zia told Dawn that 700,000 people were fully or partially vaccinated in the federal capital.

“It is a major achievement as there are 1.2 to 1.4 million people in the city. It was feared that there will be a large number of cases after Eid holidays, but I believe the situation will improve as we have been administering around 16,000 to 17,000 doses daily,” he said.

Health officer says situation not as bad as was feared; one patient succumbs to virus in Pindi

Dr Zia said vaccinated people were less vulnerable to the virus compared to unvaccinated ones.

Meanwhile, taking notice of the people’s complaints that different vaccines were being given to them at the time of the second dose, the district administration advised people to keep a record of the first dose.

“Dear all citizens, during verification remember to take a picture of verified slip before going to vaccinate. You can show that to the data team in case there is any issue regarding data correction,” Dr Zia tweeted.

He said they had complete record of people and the date and centre from where they had received their first dose.

“As 17,000 slips are being kept daily, we have suggested people to take a picture of the slip for record of the vaccine type administered to them,” he said.

Rawalpindi

One person died of Covid-19 while 103 people contracted the virus in Rawalpindi district on Sunday. Besides, 77 patients were discharged from the local hospitals after recovering during the last 24 hours.

Bilqees Akhtar, 66, a resident of Kotli Sattian, was brought to Fauji Foundation Hospital on July 16 where she died on Sunday.

There are 797 active patients in Rawalpindi district, with 167 admitted to hospitals, including 20 patients from other districts, and 630 were home isolated.

Most of the Covid-19 patients came from the garrison city, with 21 from the cantonment areas, 23 from Potohar Town and 35 from Rawal Town. A total of five patients arrived from Taxila, four from Gujar Khan and one each from Kotli Sattian and Kahuta. Four patients came from Islamabad, two each from Azad Kashmir and Faisalabad and one each from Attock, Chakwal, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Jhelum and Kohat.

The patients were admitted to different hospitals of Rawalpindi city, out of whom 31 were under treatment in Holy Family Hospital, 17 in Benazir Bhutto Hospital, 43 in Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and 23 patients were admitted to Fauji Foundation Hospital.

Five patients were on ventilators while 68 required oxygen support in Rawalpindi.

Meanwhile, the District Health Authority formed 356 teams for Rawalpindi district for the Covid-19 Community Vaccination Campaign starting today (Monday).

Under this drive, citizens will be vaccinated at the union council level.

Presiding over a meeting called to review arrangements for the campaign, District Surveillance Officer and District Health Authority, Rawalpindi, spokesperson Dr Waqar Ahmed said the campaign would run till August 10 during which 1.3 million people aged 18 and above would be inoculated across the district.

He said according to an estimate, the number of people aged 18 and above in the district was 3.3 million of which over one million had already been vaccinated.

He said for this purpose 170 teams had been formed for Rawalpindi tehsil, 62 teams for Gujjar Khan tehsil, 28, Kahuta, 22 for Kallar Syedan, 24 for Kotli Sattian, 32 for Murree and 18 for Taxila.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2021