RAWALPINDI: Four people died of Covid-19 on Thursday in Islamabad and Rawalpindi districts and 812 people contracted the deadly virus; the positivity rate of active patients was 8.8pc and 7.2pc in both areas respectively.

Officials of the capital administration said the deceased was a male patient (60-69), resident of B-17. People who lost their lives in Rawalpindi district were identified as Mohammad Saeed Khan, 82, resident of Mizar Colony Askari Cement Wah Cantonment, brought to Rawalpindi Institute of Urology on Aug 15; Samina Bibi, 50, resident of Aliabad, brought to Benazir Bhutto Hospital on Aug 25 and Malik Jamil, 60, resident of Railway Road Taxila, brought to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on Aug 25.

During the last 24 hours 6,331 tests were conducted in the capital and out of the total 334 men and 228 women were tested positive, the officials said, adding 132 cases were reported in the age group of 30-39 followed by 117 in 20-29, 86 in 0-9, 75 in 40-49, 50 in 50-59, 44 in 10-19, 34 in 60-69, 16 in 70-79 and four in 80 and above. Age groups of four cases are not known.

There are 5,479 active cases of the virus in the capital, they said, adding out of the total 193 are in hospitals, 172 are on oxygen support while 21 are on ventilators.

Occupancy rate of beds allocated in the capital is 48.9pc as 396 of them are occupied from a total of 809 beds, they said, adding 48 ventilators out of 120 were also occupied with a 40pc occupancy rate.

The patients are residents of the capital and other parts of the country.

Furthermore, the district administration sealed 13 shops in Rawalpindi and imposed a Rs20,000 fine on a shopkeeper for violating Covid-19 lockdown hours.

In Rawalpindi district, there are 1,888 active patients. As many as 231 patients are in hospitals including 20 who arrived from other districts and 1,657 are home isolated.

A total of 55 patients arrived from cantonment areas, 54 from city areas and 50 patients from Potohar Town whereas 17 patients arrived from Gujar Khan, nine patients from Kahuta, 14 from Kotli Sattian, five from Kallar Syedan, four from Murree and 15 from Taxila. Nine patients arrived from Islamabad, five from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), three patients each from Chakwal and Attock, four patients from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one patient each from Jhelum, Mianwali and Sargodha.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021