ISLAMABAD: Forty-eight cases of Covid-19 emerged in the capital on Saturday with the positivity rate of 0.96 per cent.

On the other hand, the district of Rawalpindi reported six cases with the positivity rate of 0.41pc.

Officials of the capital administration said in the last 24 hours 5,000 tests were conducted for the detection of the virus among contacts of the positive cases and suspects. Out of the total, 25 males and 23 females tested positive.

They said 13 cases were reported in the age group of 30-39, 12 in 20-29, five each in 0-9 and 50-59, four each in 40-49 and 60-69, three in 10-19 and two in 70-79.

Likewise, five cases were reported from F-7, four each from Loi Bher and I-8, three each from F-11, I8 and I-9, two each from Rawat, F-6 and Chak Shahzad, and one each from E-7, Bhara Kahu, F-10, G-10, G-5, G-9, E-7, G-6, Koral, Alipur and G-14.

The tally of confirmed cases reached 108,666, and out of these, 107,406 have recovered and 967 died of the virus. There were 293 active cases in the capital on Saturday.

Rawalpindi

Samples of 32 patients infected with Covid-19 last week were sent to the National Institute of Health (NIH) but no Omicron variant was confirmed in any of them.

On Saturday, samples of five more suspected patients were sent for Omicron variant confirmation and their reports will be received in five days.

So far, no case of the new variant has been reported in the district, District Health Authority spokesman Dr Waqar Ahmed said.

He said the health authority was on alert and all Covid-19 tests were regularly analysed and in case of any doubt samples were sent to NIH for confirmation of the Omicron variant.

He said records of people arriving at Islamabad International Airport from category ‘C’ countries were also being collected along with tests for detection of the Omicron variant.

On the other hand, six people tested positive of Covid-19 and five patients were discharged from hospitals after their recovery in the last 24 hours.

According to the health authority, the positivity ratio in the district remained 0.41pc in the last 24 hours. Total 1,451 samples were collected and six of them tested positive.

There are 85 active patients in the district - 22 are in hospitals and 63 home isolated.

Two patients arrived from the city areas and one patient from cantonment areas. One patient each also arrived from Kallar Syedan, Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

There are 22 patients admitted in different hospitals - three at Benazir Bhutto Hospital, five at Fauji Foundation Hospital, 13 at the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and one at Attock Hospital Rawalpindi.

Moreover, two patients are on ventilators, 11 on oxygen and nine are stable.

Published in Dawn, January 2nd, 2022